


No Storm Can Venture There

by orphan_account



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies), Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, M/M, Pacific Rim AU, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, VictUuri, mari's got sweet tattoos, otayuri i mean it comes on sort of late, rivals and shit makes it tough ya know, robots punching aliens, yuuri's buff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-09-26 11:45:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 53
Words: 180,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9895136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: General Viktor Nikiforov stands, hands in his pockets, facing the man he so desperately needs on his side. "We've got four Jaegers and we're missing a pilot," he states. Pauses.The silence stretches, pulled at both ends by both stubborn wills. Finally-"You know I won't," former Ranger Yuuri Katsuki starts, turning his gaze aside, standing, shoulders tense, "can't."Viktor closes the distance. "Of course you don't think you can when you've been hiding from the possibility."





	1. Walls

The year is new, and Viktor feels old.

He's got solid ground under his feet again and the chopper still powering down, sending chilly drafts of January air and ice crystals around him. The plain brown trenchcoat is enough to pad for warmth but he knows he'd need much better if a blizzard set in. Fortunately for his immediate interests, the weather's fairly predictable. But if there's one thing he knows, kaiju attacks are not.

He looks up at the so-called Wall of Life and almost spits on the worn concrete of the helicopter landing pad, almost defies the decisions of Earth's defense committee in clear view of the personnel accompanying him. If he were a pilot he would, but his true intentions have been masked by red tape for ever so long.

The wall's up so high now that workers crawling over the beams, soldering away, hardly look like they're moving, just blurry dots obscured by the wintry air. Worn signs announce the defense strategy proudly but graffiti denounces the lofty claims made by the United Nations. Ever since 2020, the combined governments of the world have been losing faith, and fast, in the Jaeger Program, leading them to decommission the metal beasts and turn blindly towards the belief that defense is the best option. While the powers that be may have come, throughout the years, to see jaegers as nothing more than a taxing piece of propaganda, Viktor knows the machines intimately. They're more sweat than metal and more ligaments than rivets; they bend and run and fight to the will of their pilots and sure, they've had their losses, but they've protected humanity so far. And when he thinks they he thinks collectively of all the pilots he's known over the years.

So when the world turns its back on this very real and intimate, not to mention successful, piece of humanity and chooses to throw together spare parts and not-so-spare lives in an attempt to do better by doing worse - when that happens - well, Viktor's not so happy, and a little more desperate.

"Ready to go," the guard with him says, and Viktor changes his mind and spits on the ground before stuffing his gloved hands in his pockets and walking through the noisy, buzzing mess of rust and metal and men towards the building center's break room.

It strikes him how ugly this whole parallel scene is, compared with the Shatterdomes. He's currently stationed in the Hong Kong Shatterdome, and if he has his way today, someone else will soon be as well.

He sighs through his nose as they duck in out of the chill and hang a right towards the break room, where tables and chairs are concrete blocks and pallets, and the microwaves tempt a long lineup of workers. Over and over again has his speech, has his argument, has his persuasion run in his head, but he's not certain (strangely, because Viktor Nikiforov, General of the Jaeger Program, elite facet of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps, usually is) if it will work.

Old is the most appropriate word to describe how he feels right now, and he doesn't like it. He graduated from the Jaeger Academy when the glory days were dawning; Yakov Feltsman, frontrunning the new Jaeger Program, took under his wing. When his parents, vacationing in Canada, were killed in the Karloff attack, Viktor's future was written as far as he was concerned. Yakov coached Viktor in strategy, leadership and tactics until Viktor was promoted to General in 2018; together, Yakov and Viktor, General and Marshal, have lead the program as a team, just like Ranger pairs.

Though Victor's become more famous; not only among the elite but a fan favorite as well; young, brilliant, and ready to surprise with new manoeuvers. But it's worn off. Fame has no value now that the UN has served an ultimatum to fund the program for 8 months more and cut it completely after that. So Victor's convinced Yakov that they should (that he's going to) pull out not all the stops but quite a few. Which is why he is here.

Clearly, Viktor has lived through the beginning; the best; and now it seems like he would live through the ending, and possibly the worst. The worst? Oh, it isn't a kaiju; it isn't his friends and family; it isn't tactical failure. The worst is something he tries to rationalize; an unfulfilled dream.

He's never fought a kaiju.

Being a jaeger pilot: simulations galore. 151 to date. Successful? 151. 100%. Stellar. He knows jaegers inside and out. Most of them. He's sparred and trained with pilots. Heck, he's even technically certified as a ranger. He's even piloted, technically, with Chris. A lot, before Chris was decommissioned. In the bay, moving jaegers, in simulations too. But between the need for his strategical skill, Yakov's protective hand, the UN's stodginess, and Chris being gone, he's never joined with someone so closely they could punch the lights out of one of those alien, blue-spitting beasts in a metal suit, together. It was ridiculous - _fuck, this isn't how you rationalize_ , and Viktor catches himself and runs through the list of why it's perfectly reasonable that he's never lived his dream.

_A. You're a stellar tactician. General of the Jaeger Program. Billions look up to you. Why the fuck wouldn't you be happy with that? (But he isn't.)_

_B. There are plenty of other good pilots. (Although that's been less true as of late.)_

_C. Something about not dying the same way your parents did. (But - oh, never mind. Enough buts.)_

There are a couple more items but now they're where he thinks he'll find what he's looking for. Workers flood into the room for a break. Some strip off their exoskels and hang them on an assortment of pegs and nails sticking out of the wall; others just make for the microwaves. The atmosphere becomes raucous. A foreman clambers up on a higher surface to make announcements, which include the death toll from yesterday (3).

Viktor's lucky he doesn't have to try and slink through the crowd to find who he's looking for; he picks out the shorter-than-average figure by his gait and the back of his head. He doesn't know what this encounter will be like but there's nothing to do except the task itself.

He claps a gloved hand on former pilot Yuuri Katsuki's shoulder and the man turns around to look up at him.

"...Viktor?" the shorter man says, pushing his blue-framed glasses, defogging a bit after coming in from the cold, up on his nose, a thermos in one hand. He's wearing the same dingy orange worksuit and weathered harness as every other man and woman in here. Viktor nods away from the eating area, towards where larger infrastructure half-demolished by kaiju attacks is sitting and waiting to be dismantled and repurposed.

"Can we talk?"

The guard stays put and Viktor is relieved as Yuuri follows him away from the noise. Yuuri sits down on some sort of large pipe missing its top, screws the cap off his thermos and starts slurping whatever's in there, looking at Viktor half-expectantly.

"We need more Rangers," Viktor states, hands still in his pockets, facing his target.

"Mmhm," Yuuri says, focusing more on his soup. "So?" It's not disrespectful, just an opening for Viktor to explain himself, yet suggesting Yuuri knows what he's going to say.

"The Jaeger Program has eight months left, and Yakov and I are putting together an offensive. We've got four jaegers and we're missing a pilot." He pauses. "We're restoring the Coyote Tango." He hopes his tone implies the unspoken for you.

"Why will it work this time?"

Viktor knows Yuuri's detracting from the point, but humors him. "Do you talk to Mari anymore? They've located the bridge, where the kaiju are coming from. We're working on a way to close it down. But we need good pilots."

The silence stretches, pulled at both ends by both stubborn wills. Yuuri has put down his thermos, hands gripping the pipe's corroded edge. Finally-

"You know I won't," Yuuri starts, turning his gaze aside, standing, shoulders tense, "can't."

Viktor closes the distance. "Of course you don't think you can when you've been hiding from the possibility. We need you, Yuuri." They're on first-name basis, aren't they? Even after all this time?

When Yuuri looks at him, in his eyes there's a wall many times stronger than this naive attempt at defense they're standing in. Viktor knows what it means: you don't know what it's like. And he doesn't, and it's not accusatory, but it's final.

"You always wanted to pilot. You do it," Yuuri says submissively. That earns a loose _heh_ from Viktor who pushes his hair back from his face.

"Well, is this wall going to work?" Viktor says more conversationally as Yuuri picks his thermos back up.

"Of course not," Yuuri says. "Any Ranger will tell you that." Aha, that gives Viktor a shred of hope. Yuuri still thinks of himself as a Ranger, then. "It won't work any better than any plan you're coming up with either." Oh.

"So, the world's ending then, and we're all going with it?" Viktor raises an eyebrow.

Yuuri turns aside again. "Everyone could have protested. But instead, they're here, keeping busy until the apocalypse. Everyone's tired of fighting. The end doesn't sound so bad anymore, for a lot of people." Viktor hears the translation in his voice; _I'm tired of fighting; the end doesn't sound so bad to me._ Yuuri makes to go but Viktor feels that there's still a chance.

"But where would you rather die, Yuuri? Here? Or in a jaeger?"


	2. Routine

Viktor wakes up 5 minutes before his alarm, swipes right to dismiss it, shoves Makkachin off him, pulls out of bed, grabs clothes from his closet and heads to take a shower. His routine is mechanic, but slightly excited today: he puts the water on too hot and gets out earlier than he normally would.

He has a nice room compared to the bunkers nearer to the shatterdome itself; room enough for two (good thing because Makkachin's fluffy enough to count), his own desk, a projector, and the luxury of his own bathroom; trophies of his position. A prize he would change in a moment for the role of Ranger, and for some reason he's letting himself think that dangerous thought this morning. Giving the poodle an affectionate scrub between the ears, he lets the dog sleep and leaves to start his day.

He's got a loose set of workout clothes on and heads not to the official gym, but to the shatterdome, where he's expecting Yuuri to be, making laps twelve floors up, if Yuuri's anything like he was all those months ago. But it feels like something so new as he strides breathlessly towards his destination, giving nods to the maintenance staff along the way. It's fairly quiet, relatively, at this time of day, with the buzz and grind of early morning testing and upkeep but not much else as Viktor's steps ring out on the striated steel stairs, climbing to get a better view of the Jaegers. The rest of the Rangers would be up at 6:00, in a bit over a half hour.

Faint echoes of music waft from the twelfth floor where Viktor thinks he can hear muffled footsteps in rhythm; he keeps climbing steadily, not looking down through the cracks; he's almost level with Cherno Alpha's mid-shins now.

Viktor's rewarded with the lithe figure circling back around on the far side of the dome on the padded track, saturated blue Mizuno shirt lifting and falling in stride, black hair bouncing. Opera sounds; it's Viktor's anthem, which makes him glad he's not part of the Ranger crowd when he chooses to think of it, because they would have fixed on the strange choice of workout audio. Or maybe he would enjoy that, getting to flaunt idiosyncrasies for once, untied by red tape.

That's a fleeting thought as he just stands and watches Yuuri round the track closer to him. The title of the song dances through his mind briefly as he thanks whatever forces compelled Yuuri to agree to his proposition.

_Stammi vicino, non te ne andare._

Yuuri doesn't notice Viktor until he's close, focused on his pace. Until he does there's almost something magical about the solace of the morning jog, almost like a film. Victor's missed this man and it's all the worse for the uncertainties ahead, but those worries hush and shudder in this moment.

The song is conveniently coming to a end. Viktor makes eye contact with Yuuri and the younger man slows as if to stop, but Viktor doesn't want to intrude and so falls in step beside him albeit at a more leisurely pace.

"Still an early riser," Viktor says.

"The earliest," Yuuri replies.

They make it halfway round the track. Nessun Dorma begins. Their paces are very similar, something like 7/8. Viktor strangely relishes that one step that lands perfectly in sync. He finds, though, that if he doesn't listen carefully, it flips, and only one is out of sync. He doesn't know which he likes better.

"I didn't know you appreciated my taste in music," Viktor says. "I remember you usually choose to have it quiet."

"...or," Yuuri says after a pause and Viktor has to finish the sentence himself, and he knows the most probably answer is _I would listen to Phichit's music,_ but he plays dumb.

They run for awhile, Viktor dropping off to do lunges after 10 minutes. He was planning to warm up and go to the actual gym for strength training.

"It's nostalgic, I guess," Yuuri says almost happily as a parting remark, closing the question Viktor posed.

"I missed you, Yuuri," Viktor says, almost happy, too, but Yuuri shys away from even that light conjecture.

Like clockwork, at 6:00 a.m., Mila and Sara, pilots of the Cherno Alpha, show up to the gym where Viktor's on the squat racks. Since Yakov's taken back a lot of the administrative duties of Viktor's position, he's had more time to join the Ranger crowd; something the bureaucrats see as odd, but Viktor enjoys. He knows while their schedule is filled with combat training and psychological exercises, and his mostly consists of meetings and solo work on drafting papers and strategies, they've come to overlap a bit over the years, he and they. He's always made time for that.

Mila has pink-red dyed hair and an undercut, the taller of the two, while Sara can bench more and her tanned features remain quieter; at least not during the heat of battling in drift with her partner. Viktor greets them and spots Sara for a spell. The two are capable of entertaining themselves, volleying back and forth. They've been here for a long while, these two, with 13 successful combat missions, and their relationship is clearly the reason for such success.

JJ and Isabella, pilots of the Chrome Brutus, pass through a bit later.

"Hit that max, General," JJ shouts at Viktor over his shoulder as Viktor's doing reverse flies. Probably the loudest of all the pilots, unusually spirited even: he's gotten into his own share of troubles but Viktor knows his records as well as the man himself, and his fiance. She keeps the good pilot in him. Now the running joke (or maybe it isn't such a joke, hopefully it isn't) was their eternal engagement would end in less than 8 months, when the breach closed. When they would close the breach. At the back of his mind Viktor's pensive about 2:30 and what the scientists will tell him today.

Viktor leaves when it's nearing 6:30. He trusts Emil with the new stock: they're supposed to be swimming this morning. In the ocean of course. No funding for a pool.

Back to his room for another quick shower and change, this time into the drab monkey suit he's so used to. He brings up his schedule on his phone, checks the news and breach status on the restricted app. Nothing alarming. Yet. Days always come with a 'yet' attached as of late. Makkachin's out for a walk with the staff assigned to the task and Viktor wants more time with Yuuri, maybe lunch, to catch up, and he wants to do all these things he just doesn't have time for.

8 months.

This is it, peak or fall.

He leaves his room, closing the door with a sharp bang.


	3. Kaiju Groupie

"Entrails on YOUR side of the room." The woman wearing a pantsuit uses the slim heel of her black pumps to poke a gelatinous dark pink mess across the tile, closer to the examining table on which the remainder of the lumpy specimen sits. Her long brown hair has been swept back from her face; she has a strong and slim figure; though she's no ranger, Viktor finds it a curious fact that the same rigorous mathematical training can be applied to physical exertion as well. Minako used to be a ballet dancer when all was well with the world and art thrived in place of fear.

It's 2:30 sharp and Viktor has entered the research lab unnoticed, as usual, something he enjoys. While Minako's side is pristine excepting chalk dust on the floor, the giant wall layered with blackboards and desks stacked with papers and books, Mari's side (larger and brighter and much more visually satiating) is a tangle of technology and biomass. A part of a Kaiju brain sucks at the walls of a cylindrical chamber, constantly fed an unusual mixture of gases and solutions. The scientist herself is hunched over a table poking at some smaller specimen, headband pushing back a mop of green dyed hair; months of black roots showing. Her sleeves are rolled up to show her various kaiju-themed tattoos as she makes a gesture at Minako. "Spend less time complaining about me and maybe we'll finally get some data about the Breach," she says. Her voice has a hoarse edge to it; she's a smoker.

"Maybe if you looked up from your dissection fantasy once in a while you'd notice I've gotten just that," Minako retorts, enunciation clear. She notices Viktor, glances quickly down at her watch and back up. "Oh, General." She quickly gathers a stack of papers and passes the report to Viktor. Making a dismissive gesture, she says, "It is quite elementary guesswork, but there are papers to keep others happy, I suppose."

"The Marshal does like his papers," Viktor says, leafing through the bunch, already knowing he'll have to get the mathematician to explain it in level terms. Minako already knows this, habitual from his visits, and launches into an explanation, decorated by some terminological frills at the onset.

"Albeit the breach data we've gathered is very vague, but according to the oscillatory algorithm generated, I've used the Frenet frames in sequence to detect a new pattern shift since Sydney. The differential equations-"

"Minako, please, I'm no maths major."

"Ah." She tosses her hair at the inconvenience. "In four days we could be seeing a Kaiju every eight hours until they are coming every four minutes. We should witness a double event within seven days," she summarizes. Mari snickers loudly, accompanied by a wet snap as she successfully severs a Kaiju part of interest.

"So within seven days is a totally accurate target to drop the nuclear bomb on the tunnel," she says sarcastically.

Minako shakes herself indignantly. "It's not a tunnel, Mari." Going over to a control panel space on the other side of the room, she presses buttons until some twisty hyperbolic shape pops up, projected into the air in blue light. Looking pointedly at Mari, she keeps pressing and swiping controls until the image pops up in 3 feet of glory right at Mari's elbow, the tools discarded on her projection table disfiguring the image, which has previously been an society6 page of Kaiju-themed T-shirts. Mari jumps, looks at her smirking colleague and gathers a handful of Kaiju goop, making as if to throw it. Viktor's amused as Minako flinches in spite of herself, but the mathematician strides over to Mari's side, carefully avoiding any mess on the floor.

She talks as she modifies the image with hand gestures, pulling, twisting and zooming.

"The 'tunnel', as you like to call it, is the Breach, largely different from the crude term "tunnel" because it is atomic in nature." Minako turns back to Viktor. "Ah, General, do confirm with the statistics team, but I've sent a confirmation down for review that the plan to shatter the breach by detonating a thermonuclear warhead while it is expanded in size has a good chance of success."

Mari snorts again.

"Funny coz I'm damn sure I heard you pulling out your hair earlier. Something about p is less than 0.1?"

Minako looks annoyed to be reminded of that. "It's the best plan we've got," she says with a lift of her chin.

Mari stands up with finality and turns to Viktor. "Nope, nope, because I've got a different one," she begins.

"Don't embarrass yourself," Minako mutters, appearing to have given up and retreating to erase the chalk-filled blackboards. Viktor listens to Mari as she starts to explain excitedly, her words grouped together in firecracker phrases.

"So you know how we've thought - that they're more different than not. Kaiju. One's a pterodactyl, another's a shark, another's a bear, or - like this beauty here an octopus-!" she says, referring to a stylized tattoo up her forearm, earning a shout of " _KAIJU GROUPIE!_ " from Minako, complete with the roll of the R. "They're all so different, and their DNA structure if it can even be called that which I wouldn't, I would call it MrXNA-"

"Mari, please," Viktor interjects.

"-Ok, well so instead of spending all your money just figuring out their DNA structure I dug up the DARPA files from the beginning of the Jaeger program and matched test sites to this baby here." Mari pats the glass of the brain's cylindrical tank approvingly, triumphantly.

Viktor frowns. "So?"

Mari makes frantic hand gestures as if trying to make the words come out. "So - I found that whatever the DNA, they have close enough chemical brain structure to participate in a neural bridge." Mari looks like she's waiting for someone to high-five her, or high-five the Kaiju brain hanging languidly in its confinement. "Even with just a weak lil piece like this boy-"

Viktor rubs his temples. "Wait, so you're saying drift with a Kaiju?"

"Just a teeny piece like this-"

"The neural surge would be too much for the human brain," pronounces Minako loudly.

"B-but we could know so much more! Every damn thing you could ever want to know about the Breach! How they work, how-"

"Mari, no. I can't allow that. I agree with Minako." Mari always has colorful ideas, but this one is too radical, and - well, Viktor is thinking of what Yakov would say. Viktor feels like he's got to defer to the old man on a few things since he's been fairly controlling with the Ranger affairs. He's got to keep things as normal as possible, even during this crunch time. That's Yakov's reasoning and Viktor knows there's sense in it. Too much deregulation and the system they're trusting to pull them through will frenzy itself into disarray.

"I can make a report or some paper if that'll-" Mari's saying emphatically.

Viktor lightens his expression. "What will you need?"

Mari gapes for a second and then straightens. "Uh well, first..." She names off a list of parts and supplies that the shatterdome could provide.

"Good," Viktor says firmly when she's reached the end, "I'll tell the technicians to not lend you any of that."

Mari groans. "I'm serious. Damn serious. 'Within seven days'?" She rolls her eyes at Minako.

"The prediction will get more accurate as time goes on," Minako snips.

"We need your brain as it is, not fused to an alien's memories," Viktor asserts. "But you could be helpful by continuing to work on the biosignature of Mutavore."

"I was," Mari mutters, going back to her dissection table, and then making for the fridge containing contrasts and dyes. The meeting seems to be over. They're Viktor's favorite meetings. He flaps the wad of papers at Minako. "I'll be by tomorrow at this time to see if your calculations can get any more specific," he says to her. She nods back responsibly. "Mari, you've talked to your brother recently?" Viktor tosses her way as she's rummaging for a slide and a dish in the cupboard.

"Why would I've, his damn phone's cut off, as far as I know he's AWOL somewhere on the Wall of Life, oh I mean the _Wall of Shitty Bureaucratic Ideal_ -"

"He's here, you know," Viktor counters.

Mari spins around, almost drops the glass acutrements in hand but catches them with a rattle. "Huh?"

"I fished him off the Wall yesterday," Viktor says cheerfully. "Excuse me, ladies, thank you for your time."

Viktor leaves.

"- son of - I'll - I'll physically _hurt_ him!" echoes lovingly down the hall.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It's 2:52; Viktor has his first official debriefing with the new stock at 3:00. He's hoping Yuuri will come along as a returning pilot. Right now, Viktor's making his way to the assessment wing next to the shatterdome. He steps inside the plain room where Yuuri's sitting in a tight black tracksuit, elbows on knees. The walls are worn metal, set with measurement panels, and a running track is set in the middle of the floor. Viktor sits beside Yuuri, feeling the other man breathing hard.

"They ran you fast," Viktor comments.

"Like my first day here."

Viktor absentmindedly flips through his portfolio of papers for today, shuffling them into order.

"Max reps are mostly up, though. The Wall is good for something."

Viktor casts an appraising glance at Yuuri's figure. The man has always been on the small side, but to Viktor's discerning eye, he _has_ bulked out.

"I can't tell at all," Viktor says lightly. The corner of Yuuri's mouth flicks up, then down. Viktor knows he's got to approach _The Subject_ , but it needs a prelude. Perfect material: the debriefing. Viktor hooks his finger around his tie to loosen it. Usually he doesn't dress up quite this much, but he had a short meeting with another branch of the PPDC this morning where there were cameras and flashes and too many questions for his liking. "Head to the mess hall with me. I'm giving the new stock a run down of what's happening."

"Oh? How many new teams are there?" Yuuri says, with maybe some real interest this time, standing as Viktor does.

"With the ultimatum we didn't have any teams to pick from in the Academy. We've got two individuals. And then there's you, and Emil's been watching them, so . . . that's technically enough to fill the Jaegers. If we sort out compatibility." Viktor knows he implied Yuuri's part of this matching game and everything's become more clear. He expects a subtle reaction or nothing at all, but instead Yuuri sucks in a breath.

"Let's go then," he says and exits the room, leaving Viktor to follow. Viktor blinks. Had he been hoping for something else? But, fuck it, there's no time to think of that. He quickly follows on Yuuri's heels.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx


	4. New Blood

There's a low platform at one end of the mess hall, not so much messy as worn. The cavern ribbed with curved steel trusses thrives with life at mealtimes despite the appeal of the food served. But now it contains a crowd entirely different from the lunch one; technicians, researchers, HR and medical staff alike are all gathered for the first official debriefing of the new pilots and what's seen as the official launch of the 8-month offensive. All the pilots are here; Viktor steps onto the platform where the Rangers stand in pairs; ahead of them stands Yakov and Viktor draws up beside the man. He nods at the stern figure, heavyset but not unfit, dressed in a dark jacket and silver hair combed back. Yakov has a presence befitting of his position; it's like a deep, strong ostinato compared to Viktor's unpredictable arpeggios. But to Viktor, the largest difference between them is that Yakov has a background in piloting. It's made it clear at times that Viktor's had to earn the sort of symbiotic respect he'd call companionable understanding from the pilots. Yakov's history defaults to some sort of mutual platform between him and the Rangers and Viktor would be lying to himself if he tried to believe it didn't make him envious.

Viktor feels Yuuri dropping back, but he pulls him forward. There's a commotion into the hall and the crowd turns as Emil marches in, accompanied by the new recruits; Viktor appreciates the man's abilities to put the young blood in presentable clothes.

The group of three gathers at the front of the low platform and Emil steps up beside Yakov, who gives the tech-turned-pilot-turned-lead-technician an approving tilt of the head.

"Crew of Hong Kong shatterdome," Yakov begins, his voice carrying, Russian accent stronger than Viktor's, "I'm pleased to announce that today we have completed the assembly of Rangers who WILL succeed in closing the breach, alongside your essential support." The gathered crowd claps politely. "Formally introducing Otabek Altin, outstanding former cadet of the Jaeger Academy, now a Ranger," he continues.

Otabek's got a serious expression to match Yakov's, showing no glimmer of a smile but no ill emotion either, as he steps up the the platform, accompanied by applause. He's tall and broad-shouldered with a precise undercut, but his clothes are clean pressed and he looks like he's ready for his image to be pasted on a poster in protest of the Wall. He's shorter than Viktor; taller than Yuuri; shorter than the other cadet:

"And Yuri Plisetsky, outstanding Jaeger Academy former cadet, now a Ranger," Yakov finishes. The other man steps up; although Viktor is tempted to call him a kid instead. He's barely 18, and despite his prime standing in the Academy, Viktor has misgivings. Primarily because he's the grandson of Yakov's former copilot, and Viktor's not the only one who suspects favoritism, or the delayed effects of. Secondly because of his almost challenging, sharp green eyes and sarcastic quirk of the lips and haughty chin. Viktor has hardly spent time with the kid, but he feels like he could boil down JJ's feist and pour it three times into Yuri's limber frame. Oh yes, thirdly, he's built like - like a figure skater and not like a fighter. And fourthly, his name is going to be fucking confusing with Yuuri back now.

When applause dies, Yakov acknowledges Yuuri as returning pilot. Cheers erupt and Viktor sees Yuuri blushing, looking down more than he already has been, shrinking back. Viktor smiles enough to make up for the both of them, because if there's any such thing as a sad blush, Yuuri's nailed it.

"We'll begin compatibility testing tomorrow morning, and decide on final teams by tomorrow afternoon. The plan to close the breach is a go. Work hard, for the preservation of your world." Yakov keeps it brief and the crowd disassembles.

Viktor feels Yakov's hand on his arm, but makes eye contact to communicate he'll be right there.

"I thought you'd be done piloting after your last mission," Yuri's saying already as means of an introduction to Yuuri. It's condemning.

Yuuri says nothing in reply, just looks surprised at Yuri's outspoken manner.

JJ and Isabella looked like they were going to stay, but they conveniently wander off, following Mila and Sara. The other Rangers already know the new recruits.

Thankfully Otabek interrupts, extending a hand to Yuuri.

"Good to meet you," he says in a clipped, accented tone. Yuuri takes his hand and shakes it. Yuri crosses his arms.

"You as well," Yuuri replies.

"Gentlemen, you're ready for testing tomorrow?" Viktor says to the new blood.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Yuuri says. "I'm going to get something to eat."

"No, you're coming with me to LOCCENT," Emil says.

Viktor clears his throat. "Ahem, thank you Emil for keeping them in line, but first," -he enjoys Emil's company; Emil is a moderate man, the sort where you feel obliged to keep him in his good mood-"a quick rundown of what's happening tomorrow."

The new pilots straighten and turn to the General.

"You'll be expected to show up at the Kwoon combat room at 8:00 a.m. sharp. What you do before then is your choice. Physical compatibility testing will run the morning. After lunch break. the mental testing narrows down the earlier results. Don't underestimate it. It can be far more revealing than smacking each other with a bo." Viktor nods curtly at Otabek and Yuri.

"So, off to Loccent," Emil resumes. "Seeing how the chain of command works is directly relevant to how we'll fight and carry out missions. Things can change in an instant. Come on now, you've had your two minutes of fame." The Czech man heads off and Otabek follows after a short salutatory "General," to Viktor, casting a glance at Yuuri who elegantly turns on his heel and trails behind without a backward glance at Yuuri or Viktor.

"I wonder who he's compatible with," Yuuri says quietly once they're out of earshot. Viktor snorts. "He must've been a strong cadet."

"The best. And also," Viktor says, following up with an explanation of Yuuri's relationship with Yakov.

They turn and head out of the mess hall. Viktor's phone buzzes in the short-short pattern, letting him know it's from a Ranger. He pulls the device out of his pocket. JJ's asking him to see if Yuuri and him and the other pilots want to eat together. Viktor communicates as much to Yuuri.

"Uh, no, I mean I wanted to go... Talk to Mari, I guess. Tonight," Yuuri declines.

"OK," Viktor says noncommittally, texting the (insufficient) explanation to JJ. Technically he has solo work to do now, but he'll not make much headway strategizing while pilots remain unmatched. And he does want to show Yuuri around the restorative work on the Tango.

"Come on, let's have a look at your Jaeger," Viktor says, pulling Yuuri down the appropriate hallway. He shifts his gaze around Yuuri's face for interest and finds some, enough evidence for him to remain insistent.

They reach the shatterdome where noise reigns and people mill about like the dots inside Viktor's eyelids when he closes them, crawling, climbing, soldering, measuring, prepping the warriors for battle. The giant analog clock on the wall flips the seconds, minutes, hours, days rhythmically over to indicate the time since a Kaiju attack. Based on Minako's math, they've got at least another day to go; the clock reads 8 days and some. Viktor rounds the track by 180° and takes the lift up to the 22nd floor with a mechanic who enthusiastically welcomes Yuuri back, as she carries a breadboard full of wires, lights and switches.

"We've been working very hard to get the Tango back in shape," she enthuses, "and to have you back in it is just the best thing!"

There's a pier-like balcony on the 22nd level; the floor still being steel grating. One thing was for sure: a fear of heights wouldn't get you remotely close to a Jaeger.

Here, the pair leans on the rail and looks up (upwards still) at the Jaeger in question.

Fantastical and even comically impressive standing still, Viktor knows how they come to life with pilots leading the machines, and certainly any pilot knows this as well. He knows Yuuri doesn't see a billions-of-dollars investment or some hulking symbol of the human ego; while he's not such quite what Yuuri's vision is, it's certainly much more personal. Maybe too personal.

To distract from that, Viktor starts listing off the improvements.

"There's more than just repair work on her. We increased the modulus of the EnergyCaster to seven and made the nuclear reactor shielding lighter. She's even more of a dancer than she used to be, as the predictions go."

"Oh, what does she weigh in at now?"

"7,333 tons. There's been a lot of electrical work too." _Since the blueprints didn't pull through 100% on their promise that she could be run solo._

Finally Viktor's managed to draw Yuuri out of himself and the pilot asks the General questions. They banter back and forth for a good time about the specs, the other Jaegers, the other pilots, and the plan, while work goes on around them. Moments like these are blithe, like Viktor's ascended beyond normal life and is closer by just that much to touching the impossible, however close it may seem, however far it really is. Eventually the train of conversation drifts slow.

"I'm really piloting, then," Yuuri says quietly, introspectively.

"You'd better be." Viktor says affirmatively. Well, now's as good a time as any. "Are you feeling up to it?"

"I agreed, didn't I," Yuuri says, and there's a wariness in his tone.

"Making sure you're comfortable."

"I'll make it work with whoever I'm deemed compatible," Yuuri says. Viktor stiffens.

"I was referring to your most recent drift history."

Yuuri's face contorts."I'm fine," he says, and Viktor can look past his blue-framed glasses and see the same walls as yesterday. Fuck, was it only yesterday? At the beginning it seems like minutes spent with this man pass apart from time, yet when he leaves they condense down into a heavy singularity of nothingness. Not fair, not fair at all.

"I mean, I can do it," Yuuri says. "General," he tags, ironically, as if to say that Viktor doesn't know him well enough, and had to ask, when really it's the other way around. Viktor breathes in the silence.

"Yuuri, I have every PHA report done on you, including today's. I know how much you can press, how fast you can run and for how long, how tall you are, your blood type, your family history; I know who you made friends with in the Academy, who you didn't, and most likely why; I know your combat weaknesses, and strengths; but I don't. _Know._ How you will handle someone else in your head when Phichit _died in there-_ "

" _Then why did you want me back?!"_   Yuri yells, twisting towards Viktor, impassioned, and doesn't move or run, stands stiff and strong, the embodiment of his question. And the question is a double-edged sword to Viktor, who frowns. Quietly,

"Because you're an excellent pilot, and you should know that," he says intently, as much inwards as outwards, caging the truth-that-might-not-be-truth and saving it for another time; day or century, he doesn't know.

Yuuri swings away from him, leaning on the railing, shoulderblades peaking through shirt.

"Then believe that I can do it, or you be the pilot," he says; it's a challenge. Viktor watches him let out an inaudible sigh. The General chews on his lip. Sparks fly in the background as techs work on Tango's helm.

"Well, prove it, then, if you think I would make such a great pilot; go for a test drift with me. It'll improve your performance tomorrow, too," Viktor says in a lighthearted tone.

Yuri looks back at him in surprise, looks at the Tango, back at Viktor.

"Not in there, in the old simulation rooms no one will use until tomorrow," Viktor says.

"Oh." Yuuri says. "Don't you have things to do?"

"Can't do much until the pilots are matched."

Yuuri nods. "Sure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if yall wanna see some trash doodles i made for my own fic they're right here http://spelon-berry.tumblr.com/tagged/pacific-rim


	5. No Fun

At the same time Viktor's conscience is blaring and telling him this isn't even close to protocol, he's going about booting up the sim room as if he does this every other day. Surprisingly, the plastic sheets are off the control panels, and the most commonly-used areas have been dusted. Emil must've taken the new blood in here. The sim room doesn't have windows to the shatterdome, though it's a unit on the third level. There's a first aid kit on the wall; in the middle of the room is a faux-jaeger-helm, only the essentials for drift stationed there. No helmets; the twin pons systems stand in their archaic pronged form. There are mock foot plants and movable joints for the arms to mimic a real Jaeger, though. Viktor busily starts flicking switches and things whir to life; two lamps above the pilot spots illuminate.

"It's good," Viktor says, nodding to Yuuri. Yuuri goes towards the pair of docks, leaning to the right hemisphere dock and flitting to the left. Viktor knows this must be a deference to him as General. Yuuri was right hemi with Phichit. Viktor draws up beside the Japanese man as Yuuri touches the pons configuration briefly, then turns around and steps into the fake foot plants. He doesn't tighten the strap to secure himself, but reaches behind him to move the pons onto his head. Viktor watches him stare straight ahead. There's a solace in the moment, the spirit of an afternoon lull. The moment stretches.

"No," Yuuri says in the all-too-quiet space, hand retracting from the pons, as he steps, quick and jilted, out of the foot plants. Alarm? Viktor can't quite read him and doesn't want to assume he can. "I shouldn't." Yuuri glances up at Viktor and down just as fast. "I mean, it doesn't feel right. I should wait until compatibility testing."

"Yuuri . . ." Viktor lilts in a concerned tone, crossing his arms.

"I'm - I'm sure there are things you have to attend to."

And just like that, Yuuri leaves the General standing, abandoned, in the sim room. High and dry. How dare.

Viktor can only guess it's a mix of bad memories that's setting Yuuri off, and the sudden reality of it all. Rubbing his temples, the General goes to the control panel and reverses his actions from minutes ago. Now he's questioning himself, hard. Maybe he needs to get some medical staff to do more careful assessment on his returning pilot. No, from their earlier exchange, that wasn't going to fucking work. _"Then believe that I can do it"_ , Viktor rethinks, Yuuri's words. He scoffs internally. _How can I? You're not helping."Then you be the pilot". Well-_

Of course, that thought and all the hope that explodes up from him with it and the immediate, terrible fist of reality and failure that immediately crushes it makes all this musing not worth it at all. At all. But the frustration does make him more stubborn, and more convinced he can cheat reality. Viktor angrily slaps the lightswitch off and exits the sim room.

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And then Viktor remembers he forgot to meet with Yakov, so he texts him and they get to business, Viktor hanging on for a cautionary chiding. The HQ offices, including the facecall room, are a far cry from the mechanical rust and busy of the shatterdome and pilot-frequented areas; smooth, clean, quiet, with enough projection tables to go around. Today, it's just Yakov and Viktor, spreading out papers over the table in the hushed room, reviewing what the rest of the PPDC has done, can't do and won't do; the latter two outweigh the first, as many soldiers have been turned into labourers and metalworkers for the wall.

"They're rebuilding Sydney. You can't fight aliens with civil engineering," Yakov says derisively. And that's the bond that holds them together, what stays the madness and keeps the program marching on; the belief in Jaegers as humanity's best hope.

The TV plays on mute, the wall opposite. Reporters go on about the UN council, the new and improved wall plans, the decorative words of thanks to Mila, Sara and the Cherno Alpha that mean abso-fucking-lutely-nothing. Viktor knows the Marshal shares the sentiment.

They spend a good hour sorting through backup plans, familiarizing themselves with how many units are stationed and where, going through emails and drafting official documents to be completed after tomorrow. Eventually, the papers are to be tucked back into their folders and tablets folded up. And Yakov says,

"Nikiforov, I know you want to pilot. I know, with Katsuki Yuuri."

Viktor straightens, jacket folded over an arm. "Only if we're drift compatible."

"Do I really have to talk with you until you understand why that can't happen?" Yakov switches to Russian.

"Why can't it?" Viktor follows suit.

"You have a full time job, Nikiforov."

"It's not all mine."

"You wanted it back. Was that just to get enough leverage to get Katsuki in a Ranger suit . . . again?"

The lapse lets Viktor finish the sentence differently. _In a Ranger suit . . ._ _Beside you._ He's getting ahead of himself, _tomorrow_ is the buzzword in his head, because Yuuri has to drift with _someone_ and Viktor can't predict the pilot being more compatible with Emil, Otabek or Yuri. Not if he puts himself in the pool.

"You know we need him," Viktor responds.

Yakov sighs, takes his black fedora from the table and straightens it on his head.

"We need you too. Well, that's the prevailing trend. You're the one who's somehow branded these 8 months as go big or go home."

"Isn't it?"

"It's natural selection, Nikiforov. If our offensive doesn't work, it is what it is. Trying any harder to make that happen - dubious. We're nothing more than we were before Sydney."

"But we -" _(I)_ "-can be," Viktor says, and he hears his tone is sharper than he intended. "I'm sorry. Perhaps we should review-"

"No, no review needed. I agreed to this," Yakov says. "And I continue to agree while we both do."

Viktor's weighing the Marshal's words and decides they aren't a definite no to participating in compatibility testing tomorrow. Maybe that's his spin on it, but he's losing the desire to care.

"I hope we succeed as much as you do," Viktor says confidently.

Yakov doesn't reply, only opens the door for the two commanders of the Jaeger program to head out.

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After eating a secluded dinner in his room with Makkachin, turning his knuckles in her soft, curly fur and reminiscing on the day, he remembers he's also forgot to check with Minako about calculations. His phone says 6:35. She'll still be there; that pair loves their job and each other's company more than they'll ever say. Viktor hurries up and heads to their lab, or the K as it's commonly known.

There's raucous noise coming down the hall as Viktor approaches (not unusual) and thumping (not unusual) and a male voice (unusual). Oh right, Yuuri was going to see Mari. Viktor enters onto a scene where Mari is laughing, struggling to sit up straight and record what appears to be a pirouette contest between Minako and Yuuri. Minako looks comedically focused, her long hair whipping around her and tangling over her face, some of it swatting her competitor. Yuuri's got a smile on his face and is spotting on one of the posters Mari's hung on her side of the lab. They huff and spin and Mari laughs and makes exclamations of no meaning.

Viktor's struck by Yuuri's elegance and watches him with fascination as his social graces take a back seat. Something makes him wish, strugglingly, for the ability to take Yuuri's legs and motion and sketch them in stark charcoal, print the moment. He wonders who taught him; but it's likely Minako.

All this until Minako's flyaway hair rips off Yuuri's glasses in a snarl and Yuuri trips, almost crashing into Mari's table which has been mostly cleaned from Kaiju goo but not completely (Viktor is convinced it's never completely cleaned). Minako immediately goes to disassemble the snarl but it's more difficult than it looks; Yuuri rushes over with a, "Don't break them!" and Minako says, "Of course not, I'm being careful," her words spaced by concentration. Mari leans back in her swivel chair, puts her feet up and twirls while making edits to the video.

"Ahem, Minako, sorry about earlier," Viktor makes his presence known. Minako looks up abruptly and lets go of the tangle she's had no success with, and Yuuri takes up the task. "Did you get any further on the calculations today?

"Oh, General! I did. I went to the computer lab and made a team out of the programming staff. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not. Anything to get it done faster."

"I'll be glad when our pilots are paired tomorrow. The seven days is looking more like five," Minako says.

"Viktor, your opinion," Mari interrupts, scooching over on her chair, grabbing the hair-and-glasses tangle from Yuuri.

"OUCH," Minako says melodramatically as she's yanked by the new problem-solver on scene.

"We need a cool team name," Mari continues. "Something spectacular. I thought M&M. Like the candy. Speaking of which, I haven't had any in forever. But don't you think that's-"

"A terrible name," Viktor finishes. "It should be with your names. Minako Mari. How about that?"

Both the scientists give him deadpan looks.

"That's nice," Yuuri comments, leaving context to label it as sarcasm.

"Ok, well I suppose it has to be a bit shorter. Mako Mari. There," Viktor amends lightly.

"Why does she get to keep her full name, and not I?" Minako immediately demands.

"Mariako. Minari," Mari says, successfully twirling/jerking Yuuri's glasses free. When she puts them back on her brother's face and he adjusts them and smiles and she smiles Viktor feels _oh so happy_ for that moment, and a little proud because he facilitated this. "The Awesome Scientist Duo!" Mari pumps her fists in the air and gives herself a vigorous spin in the chair. "That's lame, real lame, man--oh yeah, Viktor, so we decided that Yuri, Russian Yuri, his new name is Yurio! Cute huh?"

Minako laughs and Yuuri nods, like it's already fact.

Viktor take a second to catch up. "I guess. You'll have to market it."

"Will you help us promote?" Minako says almost slyly.

"I can't think of a better name at the moment."

"Yes," Mari responds enthusiastically. "Hey Viktor, while you're on a roll of agreeing with us, why won't you let me test the drift with-"

"No," Viktor interrupts firmly.

"Damn!" Mari says for effect, but Viktor knows she means it. "Argh!" She pushes herself rebelliously over to the far counter where microscopes and slides are assembled, connected to a chunky computer made specifically for DNA coding challenges. "Yuuri," she motions spastically at her brother. "Just come over here. Don't stand close to that man. He doesn't let me have any _damn_ fun," she says. Yuuri happily walks over. Viktor turns his attention to Minako and records the specifics of the team she's made. Then she starts explaining algorithms and differentials and things like that and he lets her go, as she simultaneously attempts to straighten her hair. In the background he listens to Mari and Yuuri as she shows him her work. Something eventally piques his interest.

"Have they done a brain scan?" Mari's asking and Viktor strains to hear.

"No, why?"

"Did you forget? You're the only living Ranger to survive a solo mission. And one that was designed to be double."

"I'm fine."

"Dude, it's not about 'fine'. Not only does the nature of the drift, if suddenly terminated, insinuate possible brain structure damage that could affect chemical production and communication, but also, we could learn some useful shit from looking at your brain."

"Oh," Yuuri says. ". . . Sure. When?"

Viktor lets out a breath he's been holding, unknowingly, tries to focus back on Minako.

"We can do it probably, tonight if you want. It might take a while for results," Mari's saying.

Minako's wrapping up her explanation. Viktor's heard enough of the other conversation.

"Excellent, and as always, if I ever get a vacation, I will certainly spend my time of relaxation poring over texts to try and understand the first two words of what you said," Viktor says amicably. Minako smiles that little, odd smile of her that says she really wants someone to talk math with her and Viktor is in no way cutting it.

Viktor turns to the siblings. Too bad Mari never made it in the Academy; they would've made a good Ranger team.

"Yuuri, done for the night yet?"

"Oh, no-I'm going to hang out here for a while."

Viktor nods. "See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

Viktor thanks Minako and leaves. The impersonality, the politeness of Yuuri's "good night" laps sour at the edges of his mind and he sighs deeply to himself as he walks out, not knowing exactly why. But one thing's sure; no one can fucking stop him from participating in the compatibility testing tomorrow.


	6. Compatibility

 

 

 

**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M - 01_02_2025_21_05**

_Yuuri's back. He's back. I can't believe it._

_Never thought he was coming back. I mean, you think about what happened to Casey, to D'onofrio. You think about someone close to you - dying, outside of yourself. And then bring that in your own head. Damn. I was worried. I didn't think he was coming back. But he's here._

_But... haaaaaaaaaa... still worried. Even from these first proofs I took, I can see there might be some problems. Maybe enough to make drifting dangerous? Probably, but who's gonna stop him? Not the Marshal, not the General and he isn't gonna stop himself._

_Hmmmm._

_I'll have to get up early tomorrow if I wanna figure out how bad it could be before it's too late; maybe I can find medication or something to help. And maybe figure out how it happened. Probably a sudden surge of EMR triggering, triggering some chemical breakdown or something. Maybe. I don't even know what it is._

_And I'm not giving up on the Kaiju drift. I've got a key card. I can get into the shatterdome. I'm gonna have no sleep the next few days._

_Ah, save that for tomorrow._

_Mari out._

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Viktor wakes up burning from a dream. His heart's an igniting nuclear core, pulse throbbing like a Kaiju's blue blood, his clothes tight and his sheets ravelled in knots and waves. He falls, stumbles out of bed, grasping for any murky remainders of his subconscious' art, but to no avail. He runs the taps, splashes awakening in his face, his long bangs dripping. The time's 3:13 a.m. It's too early. Makkachin's peacefully lolled out on the other side of the bed as Viktor roughly wipes the moisture from his face and finds steadiness. He stands, sways for a few moments, gathers himself, and resolves to sleep again, resolves to return to whatever that dream was, frustrated at its elusiveness.

Right before he drifts back to sleep, there's just the hint of something, deep brown eyes, a print framed on the wall of his mind, stark charcoal, memory of motion.

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The Kwoon's as sacred a place as you'll find at any army outpost, despite its barenness, pipes and valves unhidden along one wall, the other concrete, printed with simple Chinese characters and set with simple lights. Wide doors on each side fill with onlookers, the team that's to decide how humans can be fit together to defeat monsters on one side; Minako is one of them. Of course Yakov gets the best spot. Other Rangers not being tested get front row at the other doorway. The black mat shines plastic in the lighting; Yuuri, Emil, Otabek, and Yuri(o?) assemble opposite the crowd of elite, backed by more onlookers. There's a technical overseer and the head of the psych analysis team, Leo, standing guard. Leo's holding a tablet. It's exactly 8:00 a.m. when he announces,

"First match: Emil Nekola and Yuuri Katsuki."

The two step into the ring. They're of fairly similar build, but Emil's got a bit of height on Yuuri. Both go to the rack of bo staffs and pick one a suitable few inches shorter than their own height, give them hefts and tosses. Although they look like traditional oak, they're padded. Emil twirls his expertly. Yuuri looks relaxed and they smile and shake hands. Emil's wearing a loose T-shirt and jogging pants; Yuuri's got a black tank top and loose sweatpants. It reveals where his old Tango suit burned into his shoulder; scars; fading but still a reminder. They square up and the murmuring of the crowd hushes. This looks to be a good-natured round. Both of them have piloted before and it's a nice way to start things. Viktor rolls his shoulders back. He's wearing a suit jacket over a white undershirt. No tie. Easy to shed.

There's the controlled shifting, flicking, visual exchange between the two before Emil makes the first advance. Yuuri blocks his strike, making no offensive moves as Emil carries on into a testing combo, nothing too powerful. They part after a fast second, and come back together; Yuuri makes the advance. Hands slide up and down the shafts, twisting, legwork strong, knees lifting, lunging; Yuuri's doing more blocking than striking as Emil carries off a series of light point strikes. With a torquing push against Emil's bo, Yuuri forces the other Ranger back and sits into an overhead blow but Emil ducks under, using his staff against Yuuri's as momentum. Yuuri, prepared, swings around and flips his staff into a lunging thrust; scattered clapping follows the split second after processing what happened. Emil's already reacting but Yuuri has him with a sidestep and another thrust of the bo.

"Point!" calls the technical referee. Emil vaults up and grins at Yuuri.

"Good to see you're not rusty," he says honestly.

"I might call that luck," Yuuri defers.

Emil wins the next point quickly and the next. Their sparring appears deceivingly gentle. There's almost no contact; no restraint there, but a learned accuracy. Viktor has overseen his good share of compatilibility testing; he can guess what Leo's analysis will be. He's learned how to listen to the fight. Oh no, trials are not about fighting, they're really about talking. Two bodies, interactions, reading your opponent, responding; nonverbal. And this is a polite conversation. There's no passion; it reads well but too easily. Nevertheless, enjoyable.

Leo calls the match after the meager 3 points, 2-1 for Emil. The two pilots give each other a quick embrace and part, that contact more on Emil's initiative. To give previous combatants respite, Leo calls out Yuri and Otabek next. Viktor's attention lingers on Yuuri as he squats at the edge of the room, Mari tossing a water bottle at him from behind.

Yuri and Otabek face up. Yuri's got the height advantage for sure, and though Viktor can't help be underwhelmed by his slim frame, evident as he's dressed in a tight tank top and capri sweats, he knows from the kid's records that he should have high expectations. For the other as well; Otabek's serious disposition is well-fitted to this task and the muscles in his back and arms stand out as he grips and twists the bo in his hands.

Yuri's expression is sharp and his eyes full of that haughty determination that Viktor knows he has to learn to trust as he goes in fast for the first strike.

It becomes clear that Yuri is savage and Otabek is strong. Yuri treats his opponent to combo after combo, behind the back, spinning, lunging, ducking. He has the Kazakh panting; but he's holding up well, able to withstand the blows. The dull cracks and thuds of bo on bo multiply in the room. The crowd exclaims as their staffs twist together and both go down; Yuri rolls out of Otabek's range, managing a second to get to his knees and then he's on the defensive; in limited mobility, they spar in an odd position, both kneeling. Otabek does get in a strike; Yuri's bo reverbrates under the blow and he fails to yield in time to cash in on the free momentum. With Otabek's bo at his bare back, Yuri's lost the first point.

"Point!" the ref calls as Yuri's already getting back to his feet, readying himself to go again as Otabek withdraws and straightens his stance. Barely two seconds and Yuri's on Otabek again, fierce calls of "ha!" as he seeks to break the Kazakh's focus under the flurry of blows, get time to land in a point blow. Viktor's gaze flicks back to Yuuri, who's watching the younger Yuri intently. The General can tell the returning pilot's learning his combos, watching his footwork (impeccable). Idly Viktor wonders if the Japanese man would agree that Yuri often lets his guard down around his left shoulder, where sometimes Viktor glimpses a weak spot as his wrist twists loose, hinging on a flip of the staff. But Otabek is failing to scavenge time to enter that window of opportunity.

Thwack of bos, shuffle of feet, pants, soft and sharp shifting of clothes on bodies, sweat gleaming, mat marking up with footprints. Otabek lands blows but Yuri's back with a vengeance, not landing strikes but forcing his opponent off the mat.

"Point!" calls the ref and Yuri withdraws almost reluctantly. They two circle back to the middle of the mat. Viktor hasn't made up his mind about these two. It's not clear which is the better fighter, as their styles are divergent. More matches are needed to see if they can learn each other's language. Sometimes new recruits won't. Sometimes Leo will call it halfway through a match. New blood doesn't realize compatibility is not all about punching your way into someone else's territory. It's giving and taking; sharing; being more even than not.

Otabek goes in first. His fighting style is very different from what Viktor's seen. He's one of the first Kazakhs in the Academy and definitely the first to make it into a shatterdome. It pays to have a diverse team; unique training can be an unexpected advantage.

He tests Yuri's defense skills. No typical point strikes from the shorter, darker man; the combos rely on footwork more than flips of the bo and this time its Yuri who's looking for an opening and not finding it. The kid's fast, fast enough to evade, but Viktor sees he's focusing on Otabek's staff and not his feet.

The tide of the fight vacillates for a good minute. Tension grows. It breaks of a sudden when Otabek turns an evasive roll into a point move, catching Yuri's planted bo with his own and powerfully flipping the kid on top of himself, quickly locking him into place with his own staff. The crowd claps spontaneously.

"Point," the ref calls rather unnecessarily. There's a blush from exertion or shame as Yuri quickly struggles out of the awkward grip and back to his feet. Otabek gets up at a more leisurely pace; both of the recruits look at Leo, wondering if another round is necessary. It is, apparently. They face off again. Viktor looks at Yuuri, who's still intent on the kid with the same name.

Even Viktor's suprised as Yuri steps up the pace, again. His bo's a blur, quickly driving against Otabek; but the Kazakh has learned what works and rotates the match to avoid losing ground. It's like watching water crash up against a wall or grain spill across a counter or a glass full of wine shattering on the floor; two very different things that only become more different as you excite them, as you add fire. The conversation is in two languages, and it's hard to decide if it's a beautiful dichotomy or a useless one.

Of a sudden, their bos are crossed close enough to call point for either, but Viktor's leaning towards Otabek.

"Enough," Leo calls. Viktor wonders what he's decided. From the ferocity of the match, and knowing Yuri, Viktor expects no kind exchange, but in fact there's a mutual curt nod between the two before they take their seats. Viktor thinks he can pick up angry disappointment, self-disappointment, in Yuri's posture, but he doesn't know the kid well enough to have confidence in that idea.

A minute break is taken where conversation strikes up in those gathered. Viktor and Yakov exchange a few observations. Nothing is settled yet.

Emil and Otabek are next. They spar 6 rounds. It's clearly draining on Otabek but he holds his ground; Viktor silently cheers for Emil and there's exclamations and applause when Emil mimics some of Otabek's techniques to score against his opponent. But the General can't completely ignore Otabek's uncanny use of force; not only is he strong but he seems to know exactly where to apply that force to give him the maximum moment. Everyone's watching intently; when their bos meet, Viktor witnesses the millisecond adjudication of both grips, balancing out the strikes, communicating.

It's tied when Leo halts the match. Both men are breathing heavily. Emil gives Otabek a hearty pat on the back. Applause sounds. That was good. Promising. Interesting, if they get paired.

The two Yuris next.

"Hm," sharply escapes the younger as they face off. Then Yuuri speaks unexpectedly.

"It's confusing with us having the same name, you agree?"

"Sure," Yuri says.

"How about Yurio, for you?"

Yuri(o) snorts. "I thought we were here to spar."

"Sure," Yuuri mimics.

They shift, dance and collide.

Viktor's invested in this. Yuuri's got contacts in and Viktor can tell from his expression that this is what Yuuri's invested in as well; the match with Emil was a warm-up. This is another side of the pilot: quicker, faster, sharper. And it makes Viktor relieved. And nervous, if he's going to go through with what he's planned.

Yurio's taken off-guard too, apparently, as he's forced to block a smooth combination from the Japanese man. This is just as technical and not as polite as Yuuri's first performance. The kid's staff talks back; the ferocity soon returns. Interesting how they both prefer quick combos and rotary strikes. He wishes he could see things from all sides; they're turning their bodies around, flitting around their staffs to use them as a sword, a shield, in turn. More that once Yuuri somehow cuts Yurio's combos short, and Viktor can see a flash of pride on his face, and Viktor smiles too; he knows that feeling. You create something in your head and it comes out through your hands. Mari hoots along with the crowd as Yuuri takes the first point, bo against Yurio's chest.

They part and return together as quickly and naturally as possible; except for the short "ha!"s and the thwacking of the bos against each other you might not think it was a fight and more of a choreography. Dizzying as they turn; they go down and come back up; combinations interrupted by combinations interrupted by combinations.

Yuuri takes the second point.

Scattered cheers.

He's calm as ever but there's that old fight in his features and Viktor loves it, that look, the look of a Ranger; no, it's just the look of Yuuri.

The third point only needs four seconds as Yuuri lowers his guard. No sooner does the ref call point than Yuuri flips Yurio's bo back without parting and returns the point. All hesitation is lost and they continue at a dangerously close range; Yurio tests Yuuri's strength and finds himself lacking, but dodges a thrust, comes back with a side strike which Yuuri interrupts.

The fifth point is scored on Yurio's left shoulder. Shouts from the crowd ensue. More than just Viktor noticed that weak point, apparently.

There's not even a glance at the referee or Leo as the two face up and go at it again. Viktor's conclusion is they're enjoying it. He thinks Yurio must like this better than Otabek; it's a fighting language he speaks; and his opponent's fluency is on-par with his own. And it's clear Yuuri wanted to prove his competency, which he's indeed proving right now. Yuuri's using more strength now, here and there, but Yurio doesn't give him much of an opening to prepare anything too brutal.

Yurio scores the sixth point with an almost artistic flip, sending Yuuri head over heels. The returning pilot hefts himself back up with limber as Yurio stretches his neck to both sides. Squaring off, the balance shifts towards combat but Leo interrupts by calling the match. Both combatants look surprised but obey.

There's a tense second before Yurio-yes, Yurio-reaches out to shake Yuuri's hand.

"Good job," he says curtly. It's almost insulting. Is anything that comes out of the kid's mouth not slanted towards insult?

"Hm, I could have done better," Yuuri says noncomittally.

Delayed applause follows as the two retreat off the mat, giving space for a breath to make sure it was really over.

Next is Yuuri and Otabek after a minute breather. Viktor's surprised; Leo hasn't seen enough evidence, or the evidence is too close to stop the trials. However, the match is called halfway through the second point. If Viktor can get bored watching Yuuri spar, the two are definitely not compatible.

Now everyone's pensive. This is usually enough to decide the end of the trials.

Leo's doing things on his tablet.

"Yuuri Katsuki and Yuri Plisetsky, once more, please," he says.

Murmurs go through the crowd. Recalls don't happen often. The two pilots obey. They're more relaxed now. They've proved what it was they wanted to. Yuuri bounces foot to foot.

"You look like you dance," he says to Yurio. This talkative side of Yuuri, Viktor's sure it's only to goad Yurio. And maybe, just maybe, to try and overcome any doubts the public watching might have of him.

"So what?" Yurio returns.

"Well, I do, a little." Yuuri turns a pirouette into a thrust with the bo.

Yurio snorts, but plays along.

Ensues a match that's clearly on a different level. The bos obediently let their users pivot, vault, bend. Quickly the points multiply but no one really seems to care; it's a different battle now. The combatants' rhythm forms a beat; everyone can understand it, and a stomp quickly forms as everyone joins in. The Yuris play the mat as the dance floor, using the bos as props, sometimes daring to challenge the other to extend their motions to the other, connecting the dance. There's ballet; there's some b-boy moves.

When Leo calls the match abruptly chatter starts up and Yurio tosses his bo aside with a "heh", as if that was ridiculous, which it was, but also impressive. Yuuri docks his staff and goes to sit.

Viktor lifts his chin. The atmosphere is more relaxed now. He catches Yuuri's eye. Shrugs off his suit jacket, tosses it on the floor; his pants look casual-business but they breathe and they've got room for motion. The volume level in the room drops as he steps down the step onto the mat.

"Come on, Yuuri, sure I didn't drag you all the way here from the Wall for you not to spar with me," he says, cheerfully, confidently.

Yuuri stands in response and the crowd truly hushes.


	7. Can't

 

 

Viktor strikes early; he's too ready, excited enough for the both of them, but he can channel that, he can turn it into a good match.

(He thinks.)

They shuffle back and forth out of range for a few moments and Viktor has to stop focusing on the heat and movement and tangible human that is his opponent and start focusing on the machine, the strategy, the conversation.

Their bos can dance no more and meet crosswise; Viktor goes for a strike, blocked as expected, flips his bo over the shoulder, politely dodges a thrust from Yuuri, strikes again, turned against him, blocks the counter. When their staffs meet it's a confident tap, not the heavy thwack of Otabek's on Yuuri's or the moment deflection that was Yuuri's on Emil's.

The crowd is very quiet as the two combatants step apart, stances firm, eyeing each other, feinting to an opening that comes first for Yuuri. Viktor's seen Yuuri's bo talk but speaking the language himself is a more difficult task; he's rusty, it's been awhile since they sparred. But he's up to it. He's practiced with others (Mila and JJ have helped him out recently). He pushes his height advantage.

Thack, thack, thack, their bos sing in rhythm; step, step, pivot, flip, step, Viktor's following Yuuri's successive combinations, blocking them easily. Parting just as soon as it seems like Yuuri's played enough.

"Are you serious," Yuuri says quietly but everyone hears; it's a slight challenge and telling Viktor he must sacrifice the pleasure of the moment to prove himself, no, to prove them together.

So he will.

They come together again. There's not enough prediction between them to make a dance, but enough knowing to keep the rhythm. It's not the first time the General has sparred with this pilot but it almost feels like it. Yuuri's sharp; no, he hasn't lost it at all. After a bout of strikes and blocks the dialogue spaces out, as they feint out of range and try to dash in with thrusts. Viktor levers his bo against Yuuri's as they move in close range, twists, flips himself over, lands over Yuuri, flips bo quickly against chest.

No one calls point. Maybe they're too surprised or interested. Viktor doesn't care. Yuuri's panting, dark hair splayed on the mat, looking up into the victor's eyes. Intensity.

"Point," Yuuri breathes, then arches himself back, swings his bo to catch Viktor under his arm and mimics Viktor's earlier flip, ending up behind him. Viktor too late readies his weapon and feels the touch of Yuuri's at his back.

"Point," Yuuri repeats.

Viktor's hair is in sweat dampened strands across his forehead. He gets to his feet, twirls his bo, takes stance, takes stock of Yuuri (his red cheeks, the smooth way he holds the bo, the serious, lively, lovely eyes Viktor's missed so much) and reminds himself of his purpose, rushes in with a combination of diagonal strikes. Yuuri counters, pushes him around; Viktor's ready, following with a thrust, feints to narrowly miss Yuuri's strike, throws up his bo in time to block the following one. The Japanese man runs him back with a fast set of strikes, accompanied by staccato _"ha!"_ s.

Gives Viktor time to think: he plants his bo, pushes back, sits into his heels, arcing strike, blind. It works; Yuuri's down but rolling. He swipes his bo, uprooting Viktor's before the General was quite ready.

Hard to tell if they're arguing with each other or arguing together. Whatever this dialogue is, it's spirited and it charges the room. Heat, motion, the sketch of bos whirring, twirling, stopping, separating. It's a controlled wildfire that keeps getting hotter and Viktor's arm and back fatigue, but Yuuri keeps coming and he keeps answering. It's his pleasure to tire himself like this. It's the most fun he's had in ages.

"Enough," Viktor hears above his own pulse and the moment; but it's too far away to be important. This is the match that he'd want to see between Rangers, where they're talking and learning and every new strike and testing of one body against the other is the unspoken challenge to go further, do better. Thack, thack, step, turn, every movement there's a desire that keeps growing, thrust, parry, closer then father then closer - but Viktor suddenly catches a strain of hesitation from his partner and pulls himself away, tunes out ( _fuck,_ he doesn't want to) and turns to where Yakov's repeating himself.

"Enough. Viktor." The tone carries reprimand, and something like, you should know better. Viktor rolls back his posture as Yuuri shelves his bo in its storage notch; Viktor follows suit; the crowd is hesitant to disperse, Viktor can feel; they're waiting for a judgement. Viktor glances at Yuuri. They both remain standing. Face Leo and Yakov and the team. Minako in the back looks surprised, an expression foreign to her features. They stand like that, waiting. What feels like five minutes later Yakov says,

"Compatibility testing resumes at 1:00."

The Marshal turns and leaves; others begin to follow suit. Apparently Yakov thinks Viktor can deal with what he's just made clear, when Viktor was half expecting the nod telling him they needed to talk. It's dangerously freeing. Of course, JJ's the first to comment.

"Impatient to get into a Jaeger, eh General," he says. Viktor swipes his jacket off the floor and walks over to the side of the room where the Rangers have grouped themselves. It's oddly defiant, his back to the executive crowd.

"Come on, I've been patient," Viktor says. Yuuri's gulping water down.

"Damn you two would make a team!" Mari interjects from behind Sara and Mila, who are doing something on their phones. "Or Yuuri and Yurio! Or, Otabek and Yurio! Or, Emil and-"

"It's not Yurio," the kid interrupts; he's stretching his quads out.

"It's not baaaad," Isabella puts in.

"It'll help tell you apart," Viktor says, gesturing to both the Yuris.

Yurio makes an exasperated noise through his teeth and leaves in a huff. It seems like it's time to head off as the pilots start filtering away.

"You can't really, right?" Sara comments one-sidedly at Viktor before she and Mila leave the Kwoon.

He can just look away a little sadly, but not too much; he wants to keep the high of the moment for as long as possible.

It's him and Yuuri last out as cleaning staff move in.

"You felt that, right?" Viktor says, and is punished with frustration as Yuuri opens his mouth to reply but then looks away. Yuuri pulls his shirt away from his body and flaps it a few times; there's a light sweat on his forehead but Viktor is confident this man could go for days, as always. As before. It's been one year, 7 months. "Yuuri, give me something."

"You're - I mean we - you're the General," Yuuri says. "It's - even if you wanted to - it's . . . you can't."

"And why not?!" Viktor exclaims a little too suddenly, in general, to everyone listening and maybe more to Yakov and the UN panel and the whole PPDC and the Jaeger program and his life, _his fucking life that he's so ungrateful for._ "Fuck, sorry. _Fuck!_. . . " He glances around; there's just the cleaning guy with headphones in and... Oh, Mari peeking her head around the corner, giving him the greasiest grin until he makes eye contact and she straightens up. He straightens too. "Mari, please. Am I dreaming, or was that not fabulous sparring?" He gives Yuuri a swat on the back.

"Maybe if I had some shatterdome parts to build an alternate pons," Mari replies quickly back. She's tugging her forever-crooked black tie in a vain attempt to get it straight, sleeves rolled up to elbows as usual. "Hey Yuuri, want to hang oooooooouuuuut?" she switches her attention, putting on the big sister tone of voice.

"I should shower first," her brother says. Yuuri and Viktor climb the stair out of the Kwoon. Before leaving with his sister, Yuuri turns to Viktor.

"Thank you," he says, and there's that infuriating humility in his tone - that's what it fucking is, humility and Viktor wants none of it - because where is the Yuuri who sparred with him minutes ago? The bright, burning motion, the unafraid spirit? No, that man has evaporated and Viktor wants him back; all of that and more.

"...Yuuri," is all Viktor can manage and it just comes out pleading.

"It was really amazing," Yuuri acknowledges, and his eyes are honest, but the past tense is a nail into its own coffin. _But there's nothing more to talk about._ Viktor stands as the siblings leave.

He turns and rubs his temples. He's fighting on all sides, he doesn't exactly what for anymore, and he's tired.

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**AN: So just in case y'all confused, in this version, the whole Knifehead incident happened in 2023, not 2020. Yuuri was 20 then and Viktor was 24.**


	8. Exceptions to the Rule

Not feeling like having lunch with the executive crowd, Viktor does anyway, grabbing Makkachin for some company at least.

Yakov and company usually eat a couple floors up from the mess hall, a break room close to LOCCENT, smaller and cleaner with a spare few more amenities that seem to make a great chasm of difference. Viktor's not in a great mood and the atmosphere change upon his entrance doesn't help. Despite the nicer scenery, there's really not much change in the food quality, just some extra sweets once in a while.

Taking his normal place next to Yakov suddenly doesn't feel so normal. The execs are a slim crowd, as the Jaeger program would rather invest in pilots and robotic beasts than bureaucracy, but the LOCCENT staff eat here as well, totaling the crowd to a transient 20 or so.

Yakov only snorts pointedly as Viktor takes his seat and Makkachin sits beside him, the chestnut-colored poodle eagerly wagging her tail for scraps. Strange how Viktor can clearly decipher "I hope you haven't got the idea in your head to participate in the mental comparability testing" in that short expression from the Marshal.

"Don't think I need to," Viktor says quietly, spearing broccoli (which is overdone, oh well) with his fork.

"Hm," Yakov says questioningly. "Continue on with your game?"

Viktor bites back the retort of "it's not". "No, I think I made clear what I've intended."

Yakov chews on a bite of rice and pork. "Yuuri might have more sense than you in this matter," he says. It's a guess, he's cast his lot, and Viktor knows it's to provoke him (help him) to come down off his dreams and back to procedure. Protocol. Well, it only dredges up the question of why the _fuck_ Yuuri is so reticent and the probable answer: because of his last drift with Phichit; and the question that closely follows which is, of course, is he fit at all to pilot? Viktor wants to believe as much, and even now he recalls Yuuri's challenge to do so, which means the man must have some measure of self-faith, but then why be so avoidant with Viktor? And he's back at the beginning.

What measure of trauma and what measure of protocol (and that's the most unlikely contributor, based on their friendship) is holding Yuuri back, and why?

"I'm there if we need another pilot," Viktor says instead, tossing the stalk of the broccoli down to Makkachin, who chomps it up noisily.

"Then good we don't." Yakov's words bite, but his tone doesn't. Viktor strangles a sigh and moves onto the rice and meat. He has to get Yuuri to show him the art of chopsticks and bowl again. He was getting the hang of it before Yuuri left, and it is a terrible piece of work trying to mush the last grains onto a fork, chasing them into the corners of the plastic dish. "Vitya, it's because I believe your command is an asset to us that I don't wish you diverge your energies elsewhere," Yakov says in Russian, in a lower tone.

What's supposed to be an appealing admonishment is lost on Viktor. "I know you think I can't divide my time, Yakov-"

"And you can't. If you want to see your plans through, then keep your schedule devoted."

And that's the end of that. Yakov's drawn into conversation with someone else. Of course, Viktor knows what he means. The plan right now is largely Viktor's. The timescale is shrunken, the attack strategy is more risky, the science is rushed, but Viktor's confident they can save the world like this. On the other hand, Yakov would take a more moderate approach, waiting for confirmation, putting the numbers through the calculations and pilots through training before destroying the breach. But Viktor trusts Minako's guesswork. That is, if they wait the whole 8 months, Kaiju might be streaming out of the breach faster than they can move Jaegers in.

Someone taps him on the shoulder; it's Guang-Hong Ji, with Leo at his elbow. The two went to MIT together; while Leo travels around all branches of the PPDC, Viktor's sure that Guang-Hong enjoys the rare time he visits this branch of the Jaeger program (which is now the only branch). The diminutive Chinese man is smarter than you'd give him credit for at first sight, and his disposition is suited to the often tense environment of LOCCENT control.

"Hi, General, you were very good sparring today," he says with a small laugh that he often tags to the end of sentences.

"Thanks, I enjoyed myself," Viktor replies. Guang-Hong then busies himself with Makkachin, bending down to pet the poodle.

"You're obviously compatible with Yuuri. Ahem, it's too bad you can't, though?" Leo speaks up. His transient status gives him the brazenness to address the General so. Viktor doesn't mind.

"No, I-" he looks down to where Guang-Hong is treating his dog to illicit human food. "Guang-Hong! Please!" Viktor exclaims, wresting Makkachin back (that's a test) from the steamed bun Guang-Hong has offered.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Guang-Hong says politely, standing back up as Viktor tries to get Makkachin's mouth open, to no avail.

"No matter," Viktor says to appease Guang-Hong, who's still making little bows and apologizing, although Viktor knows from experience that it's a formality and Guang-Hong would just as soon feed Makkachin another bun. The General gives up and lets his dog smack down the rest of the treat.

Leo appears to be satisfied with Viktor's answer and instead starts talking with Guang-Hong about hockey.

Absently rubbing Makkachin's head with one hand, Viktor finishes the rest of his lunch in a short time, in relative solitude although there's light conversation around him, Yakov still talking to another staff member. It's usually Yakov that Viktor's side-by-side with, so what's he doing, testing that valuable camaraderie? Chasing dreams doesn't cut it. Cabin fever? No, there's something else afoot.

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**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M - 01_03_2025_21_05**

_Well I guess there's no stopping anything now that the comparability testing is over, buuuuuuuuut I'll need to talk to Yuuri cause it looks like the burst of EMR did mess up at least neurotransmitter levels. I'll have to see what he says he's been feeling like. The worse the better cause maybe then he'll take pills. Ugh, my brother. So much more self-sufficient than he'll let on._

_What'll I do if he doesn't accept it? I guess running off to the Wall and isolating himself is a pretty damn obvious symptom. I can point that out at least. Huuuuuuh. And antidepressants are so finicky. I don't want to think about the shit ton of side effects of those things. And that's conservative. I don't know, he might have to take more than that._

_It looks like he'll be piloting with Yurio. He'd better be a good Ranger. I hope, I hope they'll get along. Nothing weird will happen in the drift. Damn, can Yuuri even drift safely I don't know. Maybe he should've tried it first. I mean I guess he got through compatibility testing OK but that sim room isn't close to a ConnPod._

_..._

_..._

_And Viktor. Can't say I have any sympathy for him never getting to pilot, what with the rockstar reputation and all, but ... I don't know ... I'd be more comfortable with him and Yuuri in the Tango instead of the new recruit._

_I guess I'll see how much Yuuri'll talk to me._

_I can't seem to get stuff from the shatterdome. Every time I visit even the spare closet there's some janitor or mechanic in there giving me the stink eye. Ugh, Viktor. Maybe if he gets in a Jaeger he'll forget about me!... Hm. Well, I don't care, I'll show him, I'll build the damn thing and learn some top-tier shit about Kaijus._

_If only Minako would help. She could get me parts. But she won't. ARGH! Wait, hey- Yuuri. He might. I'll have to tell him what it's for. But it's worth a try._

_I've already taken some parts out of the cryobed but that won't get me far._

_Damn, it's late. I still have an article to write for Kaijuhub. I'll throw some crazy shit in there but maybe some stuff about the Mutavore. See who's smart enough to pick out the true facts! Ha! Mari out._

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Viktor has done his duties for the day, including talking to a very apologetic Minako saying there were some problems with unit conversions and not to be so panicked about a Kaiju attack in the near future. She moved the date back to about a week. Nevertheless, he's not in the best of moods. Katsuki turning him down. Final pilot pairs to be released tomorrow, but it looked like the two Yuris together.

And lying in bed he's still stuck on the mystery of his Japanese pilot, the juxtaposition of Yuuri's reluctance with his return.

It's not like anything bad happened between them before he left, is it? Viktor wracks his brain; no, no, he can't remember anything of the sort. In fact they almost spent more time together after the Incident and before Yuuri left, that short window of time. Not that they had been strangers before and Viktor refuses to believe that Yuuri only accepted his company out of deference: well, at least he has, but everything comes into question now.

Phichit and Guang-Hong had been good friends. Even now, Viktor knows they get a psychologist on base and he makes sure Guang-Hong goes to see him for counselling. Phichit had been everyone's friend, really. He even wormed his way into Yakov's favor, getting approval to run an Instagram featuring shatterdome and Ranger life, exclusive candids of other pilots included. Phichit and Yuuri were never lovers, Viktor was confident; but he knew their connection was one of the best. They were elastic, spending time apart, coming back together as close as ever. Some Rangers were never seen without their other half (Sara and Mila), but the Tango pilots were without that dependency yet fully sufficient in connection when it came time. At least to Viktor, who attributes the Knifehead incident to the alien. It was a strong category III; he'd never blame the pilots for anything, even for disobeying orders, because really, it's easy to shout commands sitting high and dry in a climate-controlled fort, but you really have no idea what's truly happening in the storm. (Yakov differs, but it's an old point.)

Yuuri and Phichit, that magical combination of personalities and personal history coming together- that's what the Jaeger program was about. A similar Ranger pair comes to mind, of course, but that's, sadly, or maybe not so sadly, a closed case. At least it wasn't shut by death.

So it was that Viktor, mingling with the Ranger crowd, obviously since they were a hell of a lot more fun than the executive crowd and, not so obviously (more to himself than others), because he planned to pilot someday, became friends with, well, everyone, but more, Yuuri. There was just something about his company more desirable than the rest and Viktor never questioned it.

He's scrolling through his phone, lying on his side, Makkachin a warm presence at his back. Phichit's Instagram account is still there. Floating in limbo. A pained smile finds it way onto Viktor's face as he finds what his subconscious was looking for. Phichit's face blurry in the foreground, fingers in a peace sign, lens flare and ocean shining in the sun, looking out to sea: Viktor and Yuuri swimming off the shore. Sara and Mila were somewhere to the left of the frame, and Emil was in front of Phichit, but this shot doesn't encode that information to the average observer's eye.

They'd never have gone swimming if the sea was infected with Kaiju blue. Lucky that saltwater was able to buffer the normal concentrations of blue left over after a kill was cleaned up. Freshwater? not so much. There are still outlines of gulls in the sky.

Sooner than he expected, Viktor's finger triggers the lock button on the phone.

He remembers even more clearly than that photographed moment, that rare occasion of play instead of work (although it had fallen under the category of fitness training), what Yuuri told him about Phichit. After the fact. That he had planned to retire early. That everyone should get a chance to do something new, if they've done what they should. (And maybe that's why the General and Marshal let Yuuri go, too.) Yuuri said Phichit wanted to travel and photographically document the natural world. Implied, before it could be desecrated by Kaiju.

It would've been his last mission. And it was. Never how anyone expected. If they hadn't gone back for that fucking fishing boat - self-sacrifice was never taught in the Academy - just serendipity, cruel serendipity that those top-level pilots seemed to share that selfless streak - of course it only seemed like it after the fact - until then it was just an extra star on your chest, an added height to your reputation, a good deed done, flying in the face of direct orders (Viktor's and Yakov's) to prove yourself worthy.

Is there, then, any hope then that Viktor might yet last the night, because it seems like that's exactly what he's set on doing? Oh, there is, he thinks sarcastically, because he's the most selfish beast around and _damn them all,_ he'll be there standing at the end of it all, he won't go back for that fishing boat.

Except he would.

If Yuuri were in it.

Sleep, mercifully, saves him from these circular thoughts.


	9. The Real Thing

 

 

**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M - 01_04_2025_08_04**

_So I talked to him and it didn't go well and that's why I'm monologuing from under this damn cryobed, well partly; other part is cause Minako's off with her team of mathematical proteges doing some numbers and shit. When she could be MORE useful to . . . I don't know . . . world preservation maybe? - by helping me build a pons network. Uh, uh, no offense, Minako, if I'm dead and you're listening to this._

_Anyways, I ran up to catch Yuuri on his jog. Listening to Viktor's opera track, ha! . . I swear that man is weirder than he lets on . . . But going up the stairs almost killed me, I should exercise more. Maybe after there aren't huge aliens crawling up unpredictably through the ocean floor I'll think about fitness. I showed Yuuri the scans and I even spent time colorizing them and graphing all the levels to be convincing. Ah shit, I thought this was - damn, I need a higher voltage than this! - anyways . . . where was I . . . oh yes, so it was going ok because he told me he hadn't been feeling that great, read: depression, and also feeling a 'little anxious' (which is NOT good for drifting, and which also might be more than 'a little anxious' because this is Yuuri who's telling the story). But he claims it's all just 'normal' after what happened. I stuck with my scientifically proven story that there's something chemically imbalanced in his head because of the EMR surge and he basically said, well if it's an issue how did he get though the mental drift testing yesterday afternoon?_

_And of course I know damn well why. I may not be a Ranger, but I know my brother enough. And . . . alright, alright, I looked at the waveform data from the testing. He's good at bringing nothing into the drift. Something a lot of vets have learned to do. He never follows the RABIT cause he never gets close. I mean, you could guess that from just the data. So, naturally, I pointed that out. And then he got all defensive, which probably means he's worried that he can't hold it up in a real drift, after a real neural handshake, and definitely not after the Knifehead incident._

_Well, I took it back to the anxiety. What if that happens while a Kaiju's goring his Jaeger through the chest? Oh noes, anxiety? Better stop punching this thing and feel worried? He sullenly agreed that would suck so I got out my list of medications and started tempting him with the list of side effects, so he could, you know, choose which one is the least offens - ha! HA! Oh yes, this is perfect. I can just wire this . . . here . . ._

_. . . ._

_. . ._

_. . ._

_. . . ha, sorry about that, yeah so anyways he was everything I expected, Mr. I Can Do This, but he agreed to medication, but he's making me pick, and not telling anyone. Fine, I wasn't gonna tell anyone anyway. And then I asked him about the parts, and he was like, "You wanna drift?! With a Kaiju?!" Picking sides with Minako! Anyways, he won't get me anything, and he's not gonna like it if I pull this off._

_I'm still getting over the fact that he's back. Damn. I've got to chalk it up to something. And I think he won't admit it, but he's trying to make up for something. He hasn't dealt with Phichit. He just ran off to the wall. Doubt they had free mental health services there. And there's really no time for that right now._

_I'm trying to fix this machine, I'm trying to fix my brother .. . can't something fix itself? . . ._

_Nothing ever does, does it? . . ._

_Minako'll be back soon. Mari out for now._

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Viktor and Yakov assemble with pretty much all of the shatterdome staff to watch the first real, in-Jaeger neural handshakes take place. Having avoided Yuuri ever since yesterday morning, Viktor's in a tan trenchoat, looking like his usual self, no tricks, no fun stuff, with Yakov as they stand behind Guang-Hong in LOCCENT. Red, blue, green holographs and projections jump up everywhere; buttons, switches, lights; a digital replica of the analog war clock emblazoned on the wall above them. Viktor doesn't know too much of how LOCCENT works but what he can operate is the mic to communicate with the different Jaegers. Leo relaxes in a chair to the other side of Guang-Hong. He'll head off to wherever his next stop is when everything has gone smoothly.

Viktor still doesn't know what to do, so he's largely ignoring himself.

First is Emil and Otabek, having been prepped in the drivesuit room. The suits are mottled green and black, with striking white slashes across the breastplate. The Phoenix's emblem is stamped onto their shoulder guards. It's a bit odd, the French Jaeger assigned to a Czech and Kazakh, but there was definitely not enough in the bank to build a new one, and the Phoenix Fist didn't need much restoring from when Suire and Giacometti last ran it. Mmh. That's an ugly one too.

There's something impressive, transforming about Rangers in their drivesuits. Otabek looks every inch the part. Serious as ever. Emil's smiling confidently. He's shaved his goatee close for sake of the helmet. Emil used to pilot with Sara's brother, Michele, for a year before Sara graduated the Academy. Michele had to retire due to injury. Sometimes the two go to visit him, if they ever have off time. In the interim, Emil's picked up LOCCENT and could be as competent as Guang-Hong if they needed him, Viktor feels. In fact, he's shadowed Viktor quite a bit as well. The General mulls over the man's talents while low talk goes back and forth between LOCCENT and the Phoenix's ConnPod as the two pilots get hooked up.

"Pilots on board and ready to connect," Guang-Hong's announcing.

\- Initiating...neural handshake, the computerized system rolls off, that monotonously calming female voice.

"Both hemispheres calibrated," another tech announces.

-Ready to activate...the Jaeger, the AI says.

"Lining up nicely," Viktor says, watching the twin waveforms squiggle up and down in sync.

There's not much motion inside the ConnPod as the signatures snap into place and the neural handshake is successful.

-Pilot to Jaeger connection complete, the AI says.

"Phoenix, initiate salute," Guang-Hong says after a confirmational glance at the display.

"Alright, Phoenix," Yakov mutters beside Viktor, hitting a couple buttons next to a display which snaps to a feed of inside the ConnPod. The new pair look like they're adjusting to the strange sensation of drift; even for someone like Emil, who's drifted before, Viktor could imagine it's a whole experience. Imagine. Of course he wouldn't fucking know.

Then they move, together. The Phoenix Fist comes to life. The pilots exert themselves, the huge metal interface makes a commotion, stretching after its long sleep, shoulders rolling back, arms shifting up. The pilots clench their hands around the virtual projections and the Sting-Blades eject; Otabek, on the left hemi, twirls his blade and then the Phoenix salutes, bringing those claw-like thermal weapons in interlock with a harsh, triumphant clanging clash. Everyone erupts in applause, inside LOCCENT and inside the stadium. Yakov even claps roughly a few times. The metal monster is gleaming and hopeful.

Guang-Hong guides the new rangers through a few rote exercises and then they're disengaged, the Phoenix left not quite so lifeless as before. There'll be some time before the Tango's ready; Yakov, Viktor and other execs leave to intercept Emil and Otabek, shake their hands, congratulations. The two pilots look confident.

Though they're acting as normal, not a word has passed between the General and Marshal. Viktor knows he's tense and it must be obvious.

20 minutes later and they're all back in the same spot. Now the Tango's ready. She's 30 feet taller than the Phoenix, the ballistic mortar cannons over each shoulder adding to her presence. With all the upgrades, her speed and strength are up, but they've kept the bulk down, preserving the almost delicate look about her docked stance. A paint job has been done, too; previous greys are now overall navy blues, and there are brighter red highlights running along edges and curves, areas set inside the shoulder joints. The helm has a bluish-tint to the angular, faceted protective shield.

Viktor's got his eye on the video feed of the ConnPod as the Yuris step in. His breath catches in his throat, and he's sure in everyone else's. The drivesuit has somehow turned Yurio, the kid, the rookie, the child, into a real soldier, even with his chin length blonde hair swept up in a messy bun. That takes a fraction of time to notice, and then Yuuri's whisked away Viktor's attention. The Japanese man makes it wordlessly clear that the drivesuit is fucking showstopping. Viktor wants to be right there in the ConnPod, frustrated by the impersonality of the video feed. Yuuri's hair is swept back from his face. Dark eyes unhidden by glasses. Chestplate and shoulder guards emphasizing his frame, arm guards smooth and shining and lit up by stats and numbers. Bright red accents in a sea of dark glinting blues and grey blues. It used to be white and black, the old Tango suit. This is . . . this is better. Or maybe Viktor's just missed it, missed him, too much. Anything would be better than the old Tango suit, as long as it's got Yuuri in it.

They get hooked up. Some sort of amoral pang stirs inside Viktor, makes his insides turn as the pilots turn toward each other and share a look.

"Pilots on board and ready to connect," Guang-Hong's announcing, again.

_\- Initiating...neural handshake_ , the AI says. Viktor rips his attention from the feed towards the circular blue projection showing the waveforms of the two pilots. The bright lines wiggle, undulate, moving closer.

"Hemispheres calibrated."

_-Ready to activate...the Jaeger,_ the AI says. The pang remains in Viktor's chest, struggling up to his throat. He makes no comment on the output.

The screen flashes as the neural handshake goes through. Viktor sees the pilots flinch inside the ConnPod.

_-Pilot to Jaeger connection complete_ , says the AI.

Guang-Hong scrutinizes the display, all the additional information Viktor can't interpret. The LOCCENT head squints, flips some dials, touches some screen icons. Doesn't say anything.

"Everything alright?" Yakov prods.

Guang-Hong whips around. "Oh, yes, yes," he says, then returns to looking at the display.

"Guang-Hong," prompts the Marshal.

"Oh, it's just not as deep as expected. The frequency, it's good, but the amplitudes aren't as good as I thought."

"How good," Yakov says, and Viktor steps back to let the Marshal in. Yakov swipes some things on the screen. "It's fine," he pronounces, and leans to the mic, just as,

"Hey, are we waiting for something?" comes over the feed, from Yurio.

"Initiate salute," Yakov commands.

That uncomfortable feeling thrumming inside Viktor had let up but now comes back as the Tango raises a hand, Yurio's, on the right side - _Yurio's right hemi? Ridiculous,_ Viktor thinks before he can stop himself - to its helm, saluting. Applause erupts again. Viktor's compelled to clap along, but he doesn't want to.

The pilots perform the necessary pass/fail tasks and then disconnect from the drift.

As the exec party leaves LOCCENT, Viktor can't help but comment to Yakov,

"Yurio's right hemi?"

"Mm. I designated as such. We're no fools, Viktor. We may need Yuuri, but the Knifehead Incident isn't without its consequences. It's better to balance the command this way."

Viktor exhales through his nose. Usually, such a decision would have been made with his counsel. Either Yakov's already selling him short for perceived insubordination, or he's just playing favorites with his former copilot's grandson. And either way, Viktor doesn't like it.

"I'll shake hands, and then I have to go talk to Minako," Viktor says. Yakov gives him a nod.

There's a happy clamour to the side of the shatterdome as the new Ranger pairs are surrounded by the crowd. Cheers go up from all the staff, from janitors to other Rangers. Yakov's first to clasp the Tango pilot's hands, say a few words; from close behind, the General watches Yuuri, as he takes off his helmet, shakes his hair free. He looks relaxed, or relieved. He smiles and nods and even laughs a little; Isabella taps him on the shoulder and gives him a light hug while JJ laughs (his obnoxious laugh they've all grown used to). Otabek and Yakov congratulate Yurio; Yuuri finishes with the Chrome Brutus' pilots and sweeps the crowd with his gaze; his eyes alight on Viktors' and Viktor strains to admire the details; the oh-so-nuanced separation between iris and pupil; gaze drops down, the way he carries the helmet, carefully, fingers gripping - but Emil diverts Yuuri's attention and Viktor's glad, because honestly he's at a loss for words, and a little stiff, frozen, _starstruck_. Yuuri even carries himself stronger, in a Ranger's outfit, like it gives his destiny confidence, like it takes the physical reminder. Flooring, beautiful, powerful, amazing, Viktor has to turn back because it's conspicuous, he has to go talk to Minako. Nearly stumbling, he leaves the afterparty. Heart going as hot as the Tango's core.

For some reason, everything keeps escalating. Has it always been? The past runs up to force itself into his mind's eye: his history with Yuuri, the sparring, the talking, the watching, the learning; reminders of motion, contrast. There's too much to feel and not enough; he's on his way to the K but more on the way to solving this mystery; he moves himself into an empty hallway, struggling to wrest this epiphany out of obscurity.

Viktor leans against the wall, fingers raking back through his hair.

It's not fucking cabin fever, it's not his fucking _selfish_ dreams, oh no, and his own world of denial breaks the glass over his head and he _wakes up_ because - he realizes - he realizes -

It's Yuuri.

Desire.

Synonyms.

And he's too scared to think the four-letter word, the L-word, and he's always thought he was too scared to feel it - the real thing - oh he'll go through the motions but never - never - he's never - but, now, he knows.

He's in fucking deep shit now.

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**A/N: tryna decide what jaeger Emil and Otabek get (before shit happens) and I settled on a fan-made one. I think it's the least awkward. and it has a bit of a backstory. just picture Striker Eureka in more black and green.**


	10. Fit to Pilot

 

 

Now the pilots will be spending lots of time training together. Viktor does manage to go see Minako about the math. She gives it 5 days. He passes the news on as such.

So four days pass.

Viktor feels lucid. He and Yakov seem to be back on terms, but he knows the Marshal can read him, maybe better than Viktor can read the Marshal, and knows something is the matter; too small to be of relevance, in his eyes.

Not in Viktor's.

He's reached a kind of resolve; that is, he can't let this happen. He'll kill his dreams to not repeat what happened with the Phoenix Fist's old pilot pairs. That could put the whole world under, that again. A lot of good pilots have gone under, and Viktor wants to preserve their legacy.

He thinks about it too much, still. It's darkly funny how, whenever they have a break, rangers and other staff close to former pilots will fly around the globe for a visit with their family and hospitals, rehab, relocated lives; often one and the same.

Michele, Sara's brother, suffered a debilitating back injury. The siblings used to pilot together. Viktor to grimaces to think of Sara after that happened. That's near the worst emotional state he's ever seen a human in. The two had been joined at the hip, practically. And that's why Viktor has endless admiration for Sara; she overcame that, she _chose_ to return, _chose_ to work through it and pilot again.

Of course, there's Phichit; his grave. Nothing need be thought on that topic now.

Seung-Gil Lee. He was a new cadet while Yuuri and Phichit were piloting. Wrecked his shoulder. Couldn't be a Ranger anymore. That was what, only a couple of months before the Knifehead incident? Phichit had been good friends with Seung-Gil; Viktor can't help but wonder if some remaining emotion, some vestige of distress might've contributed to . . . ah, but he's resolved not to think about that.

But most relevant: Chris and Suire. That's even before Yuuri got on with the program. Chris and Viktor had been good friends _, 'like this'_ he could say while crossing his fingers, throughout the Academy. Suire, an acquaintance. The selection process pulls faces out of the crowd, foreshadows your friendships. Chris and Suire were drift compatible, piloting the Phoenix. Maybe if Viktor hadn't been under Yakov, in the executive branch, he might've been in there with Chris, he likes to wonder sometimes, but he knows it wouldn't have happened. There's no levelheadedness between them.

At the onset, Chris and Suire were magnificent. Chris became something cool around Suire, his usual flamboyant self distilled down to something more concentrated, tempting the fight in Suire, a Frenchman a year Chris' senior. And that fight went towards the Kaiju for a while, its rightful place.

But Chris, oh, Chris. Like Phichit, he was everyone's friend. Unlike Phichit, his friendships liked to flirt with the _viewer-discretion-is-advised_ category. People loved him for it. It was never serious, but played like it was. Well, with 99% of everyone. Viktor and Chris still spent a lot of time together. Suire would join sometimes. He didn't appear to be bothered. After the fact, you could read between the lines, find jealously here and there. Accidentally, things went too far, or maybe where they'd always been headed, between Viktor, he and Chris, one night. It was nothing, natural to Chris. Play. Fun.

Not to Suire.

He found it in the drift the next day, worse, during the Reckoner's attack on Hong-Kong.

Kicked Chris out of the drift.

Now _that_ was uncalled for. Viktor gets it. He gets it. But that was unacceptable. That was downright _spiteful. Mean._ And it looked like Chris just lost it, from LOCCENT's view. And Chris . . . Chris didn't deny it. What was the point? If they didn't believe him, Suire would win. If they believed him, the truth comes out. And finding a different copilot - one he could trust - well, Viktor remembers Chris saying something to the effect of _it'll just be the same thing again._ Chris couldn't change Chris. He was stripped of his Ranger status. Sent off.

Suire conveniently retired, some magnanimous bullshit about never finding such a good copilot again.

To this day, Viktor's sure he's the only one who knows the real story. Yakov'll look down his nose at Viktor when he jets to Switzerland to visit Chris on the rare day off.

The moral of the story:

well

it is

_don't interfere in copilot relationships._

This, Viktor thinks, as he can't get the shape of Yuuri off his mind.

As he lingers by the foot of the stairs up to the running track level, early in the morning. Makes it far enough up to hear the footsteps in rhythm, _Stammi vicino_ echoing ( _Orsù finisca presto questo calice di vino/e inizio a prepararmi)_ , then tears himself away.

As he oversees the copilot training, Yuuri and Yurio working together, and has one too many nasty thoughts about the child, embittered by Yakov's questionably excessive approval, and strains (so much straining) to catch fire or passion in Yuuri. He doesn't, and it gives him some kind of fleeting confidence that deflates into depression.

As he goes with Yakov to talk to MinakoMari and holds himself back from talking to Mari, asking her about the testing she was going to do on her brother, asking her how he's doing, what he misses most about home, if he likes sunrises or sunsets, where he wants to travel, what breed of dog's his favorite - and most of all - is he _happy_ paired with Yurio? Is he? Is he _fucking_ satisfied?

As he brings his body to agreement with his mind, Yuuri, his lips, _Yuuri,_ his - well, he just wants Yuuri to be his, it's as simple as that.

He needs a diversion. He needs -

And, like clockwork a Kaiju comes through the breach.

Well, it's not clockwork. It's math. 11:42 a.m. and the alarms going off shatters the building tension. Viktor's in his office, drafting yet another official confirmation for the UN panel and another not-so-official arrangement between a group of black-market Russian Kaiju harvesters (hey, the Jaeger program needs all the help they can get, and preferably paid out in nuclear explosives) when the alert pulls him out of his work. He sits to listen for the AI announcement.

_-Category Three . . ._

_-Codename, Yamarashi._

Viktor expects another announcement, as Minako had predicated a double event. However it's not forthcoming, and it makes Viktor frustrated. Yesterday when meeting with the scientists Yakov had called into question Minako's calculations. Suggesting she should take more time to verify. Even Viktor could tell she wasn't as confident as usual in her projections, but he stood up for her. For her, or for himself? For his wild plans to make history? ... And now, even though it would mean more of fight, more money into repair, less resources, Viktor hopes there will be another call as he shrugs on his jacket to head to LOCCENT. And anyways, they've got Jaegers itching to move.

Viktor knows the plan, he's let Yakov broker it. A single event, category three, send the Tango. Single category four, the Phoenix. Double event, JJ and Isabella on assist.

Viktor's not sure whether the assignment of the weaker Kaiju to the Yuris reflects Yakov's protectiveness of Yurio or his lack on confidence in Yuuri. At any rate, he doesn't mind, and he's definitely not going to try and figure out why because right now he's trying _very fucking hard_ to not try anything on that front. At all.

_Maybe it'll go away._ Haha, no, it won't, his every waking moment is a testament against that sour hope.

Ambient noise is up as Viktor strides quickly to his destination. Choppers deployed out to guide the Tango. Staff rushing to do the bidding of command.

LOCCENT is alive. Techs sit at their desks, monitoring stats of the pilots, the weather, the Jaeger itself, on their holographs. Viktor draws up beside Yakov, at his usual place behind Guang-Hong, and immediately places his attention on the map showing the Kaiju signature and how fast it's moving towards land, toward human population. Not very, thankfully. Viktor frowns. What is this, some trick? A category III that they've seen twice already, and beaten handily both times? Yakov's already dictating orders about evacuation into the mic - the word is, not yet.

"Tango, get ready for deployment off the harbor," Yakov says as a formality, while Viktor knows the Yuris have been well aware of the plan; though, perhaps taken by surprise, if anyone at all told them there was only a small chance of a category III coming through and more likely to see a category IV. Apparently though it's not a formality, as Yakov switches one of the feeds to the drivesuit room while Guang-Hong's consulting with a tech. The audio crackles to life from where techs are setting the spinal interfaces, locking them into the back of the Yuris' suits.

Yurio's pushing his hair back out of his face.

" . . . only a category III, huh, I'm sure this will be a piece of _cake,_ " he's spitting murderously. _This kid has no chill,_ Viktor thinks for the umpteenth time, and looks to Yuuri, who appears calm, muted, still unbelievably . . . Ah, forget words. The General catches a small sigh through his nose. Yuuri's never been the easily excitable sort, but with Phichit, before a battle, he would get animated, intent, determined. Not so much now.

And of course . . . the Knifehead was a category III. A personal jab, but Viktor can't read any offense on Yuuri's face.

Yakov's taken the mic and rerouted it to the drivesuit room.

"Don't underestimate it, Yurochka," he's saying. "You two, do what you're supposed to. Make the Tango proud to fight again."

Again, Viktor's not sure if that's care for Yurio or lack of faith in Yuuri. The latter looks up to the screen on their end, looks at- looks at Viktor. Maybe expecting him to say something. Viktor just gives both of them a thumbs up and a smile. The most plastic, dishonest, artificial smile. And he hates himself for it. Why can't he just wish them, them _both,_ well? Nothing is going his way right now. The aliens aren't listening to him, Yakov hasn't been listening to him, and even _he_ is trying hard not to listen to himself.

Guang-Hong's talking on his headset to Minako, streaming breach data as he has been for the last while. Viktor and Yakov turn their attention back to the holograph.

It'll be another half hour or so until the encounter.

_\- Initiating...neural handshake_ , the AI says. _-Ready to activate . . . the Jaeger._

Waveforms journey on endless oscillations, align, snap into place. Neural handshake's good; but Viktor catches that little fussy frown on Guang-Hong which means it's 'not as deep' as it should be, just like the first test drift. The Tango's halfway around the shatterdome, now opening to allow the Jaeger out; no direct view of its pilots.

_-Pilot to Jaeger connection complete,_ the AI says.

"OK, ready to roll, Tango?" Guang-Hong says into his headset, tapping a button so it routes to the ConnPod.

"Ready," comes back at him from Yuuri.

Outside there's a light rain and partial cloud cover; helicopters are whirring, cabling up to the Tango.

Routine communications pass back and forth, and then the Tango's out on its way. Attention shifts backwards to the large split screen where helicopters have already been sent out over the waves to track the Kaiju's position and others at the agreed coordinates of the Tango's staging.

Viktor and Yakov don't trade any words. They have been in this same scenario together so many times, nothing need be said. Now's just the watch and wait. Or - well, Yuuri's gone for sure right now.

The General leaves LOCCENT, sure everyone assumes he's using the washroom. He instead heads to the K, hoping to find Mari. There's a lull now, and the shatterdome is quieter, back to usual maintenance activities.

Sure enough, clattering and other sounds of busyness reach his ears. He knocks on the doorframe to announce his presence and steps in to where Mari looks up, startled from where she's sitting half-under the cryobed, tools and scraps scattered around her.

"Oh, uh, General," she says, scrambling up, "What's going on?" A scuffed shoe kicks some of the metal, plastic and electronics into a messy pile.

"Mari, I wanted to ask you about something that went through the medical wing afterhours." He takes his tablet out of his trench coat pockets and expands it open, walking over to the scientist and standing by her, opening the scan folder. "It's not usually my business, but I was running through the Ranger's medical reports yesterday in preparation for the next breach opening. This had your brother's ID tagged to it . . .?" _Fine job Viktor, now if only you could tell such convincing white lies to yourself._

Mari facepalms and turns it into a swipe, pushing her mop of hair back. "Oh, damn . . . yeah, well I was just worried. Since, you know, the Knifehead incident. Um . . ." Viktor catches the second of _tell-or-no-tell_ indecision in her voice, but then she takes Viktor's tablet and docks it in her projection table, bringing the scans to full size. Manipulating the images, she explains them to the general.

"See, the sudden burst of EMR - I was suspicious, but - hey, why am I whisper-talking? Yuuri's out - Anyways, I think there might have been some structural damage, and of course we're in the brain, so that means chemical imbalance."

"Mari - why didn't you say something-"

"OK, but it's very faint. Or subjective." She animatedly navigates back to past scans to compare. "See, it's hard to tell. I've also colorized it, but that's also . . . mmmmyyyeeeehhhhh . . . subjective."

Viktor frowns. "But there _is_ a difference. Why didn't the psychometrics catch this when he came back?"

"They do PETs. These are MRIs, what I ran, except for this one, which isn't a normal PET." Mari sighs. "Look, I talked to him and you know, Rangers," she gestures in the air, "you know. OK, well, I looked into medications just in case-"

"Medications? If it's so iffy, why-"

"Just in case!" Mari looks half-pleadingly at Viktor. "He's not just a Ranger, he's my _damn_ brother," she says, softer, still gruff, un-docking Viktor's tablet and handing it back. "I mean," she clears her throat, "I think he's still fit to pilot."

Viktor feels there's something else, so he stays and waits for it.

" . . . Although I don't know if . . . well, he should be fine," she finishes. And Viktor doesn't want to look suspicious, so he doesn't push it.

"Medication for what?" he asks instead.

"Again, it's a lot of guesswork, but . . . anxiety."

"Did you ask Yuuri if he had symptoms?"

". . . He didn't say it was anything to worry about."

"But he accepted medication?"

"Yeah."

"I trust you, Mari. Please, can you put it on his record? In the case something happens and you're not around, we need all the information."

"Sure. Uh, sorry. I just didn't - he wouldn't - I didn't want to tell anyone."

"No, I get it." _God knows._ "Thank you, Mari," he says, and it's genuine.

She just nods and goes back to work.

Viktor leaves.

He doesn't feel any better. What was that, about education? About knowledge, about learning facts? Something like going from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.

And that about sums it up right now.


	11. Testing the Waters

 

 

 

Yamarashi is the one on Mari's left forearm. It's got a long, snapping snout, dark charcoal-bluish skin, rutted and mottled, and a set of faded, dark green spines along its back, akin to a porcupine's. Slow going in the sea just makes it for adept at land walking, and its goal is certainly to make land, and to wreak destruction, and give its masters more feedback on planet earth.

Nearing the coastline, rhythmic lashes of its powerful webbed tailed propelling it forward through icy waters, in an odd rhythm with its four limbs, spines streamlined flat to its back, Yamarashi picks up a mass waiting in the water for it, a sentinel, the casting sonar echoing back metal. Light pierces the deep, strobing illumination the Kaiju abhors. And there is one thing it must do; it must attack.

It gathers itself and crests mightily through the surface, spraying water everywhere as it flashes its spines up and out, clawing with blunt nails at the Tango as it seeks to capsize it. However, the metal interface of the Jaeger's body is unforgiving, and the Kaiju only succeeds in knocking it off balance.

Catapulting back into the sea to circle around and retry, Yamarashi finds its tail caught by one of the Tango's metal fists, yanking it back. The Kaiju fights it for a couple of dull moments before yielding long enough that its back breaches the ocean surface. Then it jets open its canopy of spines, bristling, scraping, straight into the Tango's chest and helm. The maneuver gains it quick release and it wriggles out, splashes back down. Circles in the depths, dodging spotlights, bright enough to illuminate even in the moderate daylight.

A sizzling projectile suddenly cuts into the depths on Yamarashi's right flank, exploding and searing the kaiju's thick skin with flashes of steam. It lets out a grating scream that soaks through the waves, lashing in pain and then lining straight back for the Tango. Throwing itself up through the surface, it clambers a hold around the Jaeger's neck and curls its muscular tail and the waist, snapping at the helm, trying to split it open, curls and blobs of blue spit accumulating and dripping down the faceted visor. The fists of its iron opponent smash into it from the sides, so it spreads its spines in defense, sashaying violently from side to side, twining biomass and technology into a dangerously twisting, turning structure. Though its flank is wounded, the Tango doesn't make contact with that weak spot and very suddenly the Yamarashi overcomes inertia and they topple into the waves.

Then it's true mayhem.

They're fighting the water more than each other. Limbs lash and grab, the Jaeger's energycaster glows threateningly. In the ConnPod there's frantic communication.

Eventually it's the Tango who rises, struggling with Yamarashi spitting angrily, slung, clinging across its shoulders, awkwardly across the mortar cannons, the Tango with its tail in hand.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

"Why aren't they getting the EnergyCaster off?!" Yakov's exclaiming through gritted teeth in LOCCENT, all eyes on screen as his knuckles are white around the mic; no coherent answer to that question comes from the pilots. Guang-Hong's trying to communicate, to no avail.

"This should be _easy,_ " Viktor mutters. Still, the Jaeger struggles, its former elegance and ability under Phichit and Yuuri lost.

The writhing Yamarachi somehow scrambles up higher on the Jaeger's frame, going at the helm from the top. Holographs say there's damage to the helm already. However, this has put it sitting nicely atop one of the mortar cannons - which begins to ready for fire ( _Yuris, do something right)_ \- but the Yamarashi yanks its tail free and spins the Tango around, which flounders for stability. Disappointed exclamations go up in the room, because if there's any Jaeger that should have good footwork, it's the Tango.

Thankfully, the pilots salvage the moment, and finally reach backwards, looking to fire the charged EnergyCaster into the kaiju's wounded flank; a moment of hesitation, and then the powerful white-blue surge goes off straight into Yamarashi, close range. It lets out a terrible screech, a shapeless waveform, dropping off like a squirming sack of flesh. But the Tango stumbles too; the explosive haze has damaged its right mortar cannon.

"Damn!" Viktor exclaims, what they're all thinking; that was an ugly hit, could've been much cleaner.

There's some relief as the Jaeger turns to finish the job, squatting and grabbing the back end of the kaiju with both fists, heaving the thing in its death throes out of the waves where its blue blood is spilling into the water. The Tango tears it in half.

Job done.

Not done well.

There are only scattered cheers, and more a sense of relief.

Yakov's expression is tight; Viktor doesn't know what's coming to the Rangers, but it's going to be far from a pat on the back.

Waiting for the return then is almost as bad as waiting for the fight to start.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

There's some quiet congratulations from the reception party to meet the pilots as they emerge with spinal shafts stowed, headed to the drivesuit room. After all, it was successful, and Yurio's first mission, and Yuuri's first in a long while. But even the pilots' expressions dampen celebratory feelings. The kid, his faced is scrunched up in indignance or anger or something, and he's the first to say,

"I'm not _FUCKING_ piloting with _him!",_ lashing out an accusatory finger at Yuuri to make the obvious more obvious and making to stalk off, but blocked by Yakov, a stern, immovable wall. So Yurio stops a few paces ahead and just turns to stare down Yuuri. "Incompetents like him should stay retired," he adds, unwisely, because even Yakov tells him,

"Say one more word, Ranger," and there's no fooling around in the tone.

Yurio contents himself with the death stare.

_Stand up for yourself, Yuuri, say something,_ Viktor's fuming, and the Japanese man does.

He's quiet, but tense. "Maybe I should have . . . I wouldn't have had to deal with you in there."

He makes to leave, confronts Yakov. "I'm sorry, Marshal," he says, no glance, no hint of attention to Viktor.

Yakov just gives them the nod that means, without a doubt, _you're coming to my office._

Already the shatterdome's bursting to life again as repairs begin on the Tango. Carts drive around, techs run back and forth, foreman call out teams to assess damage; the watching crowd disperses.

Viktor accompanies Yakov, leading the two pilots away to their interrogation, but he beckons for Guang-Hong to follow. The post-drift data should help give some evidence as to what happened in there.

Yakov's office has had some aesthetic work put in. There's a large, east-facing window panelled on one wall and pools set in either side of the room.

Many a Ranger has been treated to those two marked chairs opposite the window (JJ and Isabella, more often than not, emphasis strongly on the former), but never Yuuri. Well, they both sense that's where they're supposed to go, and they do, the line of authorities opposite them.

"Now," Yakov begins deliberately, once Guang-Hong shuts the door, "Let's hear what happened in there."

"He-" starts Yurio.

"Guang-Hong?" Yakov cuts off the kid, turning to the LOCCENT head.

"Oh, ah, well . . . " Guang-Hong opens his tablet, scrolling through data, "Well, the prime amplitude was never that great to begin with . . . It seems that . . . at 22:33 and 24:59, there are local minima, meaning that there was some trouble with, ah, calibrating the drift."

"Can you see from which hemisphere?"

Viktor's holding his breath.

". . . The first time, the left . . . We lost phase up to 65% . . . the second time, it's split, I can see, uh, the right. But . . . they did pull through, right?"

Yakov snorts, an indication of how much he agrees with that statement.

"Thank you," he dismisses the LOCCENT staff. Guang-Hong nods and mumbles something about _breach_ and _Minako,_ heads back out of the office. It's a bit of a cold, bare room, despite the light flooding in.

"Yuri," Yakov calls out the younger pilot, allowing him to launch into his view of things.

"So _he -_ and don't tell me I can't say this - _he's_ pulling out of the drift or something cause he's still not over how his old copilot died. He's scared. Scared of that Kaiju. He wouldn't pull the hit, you saw us, falling all over the place -"

Viktor grows bored of the tiny thing throwing a fit and notices a barely-noticable flinching squint around Yuuri's eyes, and his posture favoring his right shoulder. _The self-inflicted cannon damage._

"-thought we were drift compatible, anyways? Check the testing!" Yurio's still spitting, but he drops off, apparently having let off enough steam.

Yakov raises his eyebrows, nods. "Katsuki?"

Yuuri pushes his hair back with his (left) hand. "I didn't think I would react like that. It's . . . I'm sure it won't happen again."

He doesn't sound sure to Viktor.

"Yurio, you know the Tango's not for punching," Yuuri says, turning to address his copilot. "We could've killed the thing if we'd set off the mortar cannons. And we shouldn't have killed it the way we did. That's going to cost a lot to repair."

"If it were you, it wouldn't have gotten killed, moron," Yurio retorts. "Better a bit of money and a dead kaiju than-"

"You don't understand what the drift's about! It's- it's not like that!" Yuuri's voice rises. Then falls back to, "We needed to keep in the drift so I - we - did take it out. But I would've done it smarter, better, if not for your . . ." ( _ignorant? stubborn?)_ " . . . insistence."

The accusatory glimmer persists in Yurio's eyes. "You're dead weight, Katsuki-"

"I've heard enough," Yakov interrupts. "I'll keep Leo around and look into the testing results further. For now, you're no longer copilots."

Yurio looks surprised, as if despite his earlier declaration, he didn't expect it to come true. "What do I do, then?"

"You train. You're still a pilot." Yakov turns to Yuuri. "You too, Katsuki."

There's some distrust in his tone that Viktor doesn't appreciate, and now he's having second thoughts about getting Mari to put the medication belatedly on Yuuri's record.

"Dismissed," Yakov says.

After the two leave the room, he turns to Viktor, switching to Russian.

"I wonder if he was raised with too many hugs or beatings," Yakov comments dryly, referring to Yurio.

"Not enough of the latter," Viktor plays along, but with just enough sincerity to drop a hint. It's for fucking sure that any other pilot wouldn't have gotten off as lightly with Yurio's behaviour.

There's a pause.

"I don't know what went wrong with the testing," Yakov says, inviting Viktor's input.

Viktor shakes his head. "Yurio's the youngest pilot we've ever taken. He might lack maturity. Can't test that."

"I doubt it has anything to do with his age," Yakov says. "What experience he lacks, at least it's not bad experience."

Viktor sighs. The point of the sword is turned towards Yuuri. He doesn't like it. He's not done with this subject. He feels the need to say this: "Yakov, I know Yuri's close to your heart because of Nikolai-"

"I don't need to defend him, Viktor," Yakov says, his tone becoming tight. "I don't play favorites."

"Then neither do I," Viktor responds, quickly. Their gazes meet and avert.

_Or we both do,_ Viktor thinks privately. And it pains him, because they're both thinking it, and they've been close enough for ever so long to be candid, open, but now there's an opaque barrier in their communication.

"I'll have you look into Plisetsky's record and the drift data. I'll check into Katsuki's," Yakov concludes.

Viktor agrees.

Well, he won't be able to find any recorded fault with the kid, because evaluations typically don't carry checkboxes labelled _asshole_ , but he's worried what Yakov will find about Yuuri, but really- he can't do anything, and he probably shouldn't.

"I'll talk to Minako about the next event," Viktor adds.

They leave and go their separate ways.

Viktor's heart has soured and he feels the need to seek out Yuuri and given recent events, he's going to do just that because it can't really hurt hings that much more, can it? It'll be innocent, just checking up, following up after the fact. _Make sure you get your shoulder checked._ Something quick, a hint. Touch and go. A taste. Forbidden. _I'm so fucking sorry, I dragged you into this-_ no, not that. _It's my fault, I blindly believed that somehow I would be your copilot and we wouldn't be in this mess, we'd be the greatest pair of Rangers that's ever drifted and -_ no, not that either.

He'll have self-control. He'll stick it out. He'll get through this mess, he tells himself, with not much surety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for your comments guys!


	12. Some Kind of Miracle

 

 

Viktor checks medical for Yuuri first, but he's not there. To the K.

There's Mari's impassioned shouting as he approaches through the hall. When he enters there are the two siblings in a standoff.

"You have to, Yuuri-" Mari stops short to see Viktor and Yuuri spins around as well upon the unexpected visitor.

"Yuuri, did you go to medical about your shoulder?" Viktor says.

Yuuri's still favoring that side. "No. It's not bad-"

"Go," Mari commands, giving him a push, mouthing at Viktor, _talk to him._

The General and the pilot leave.

They head towards the medical wing in relative silence for a minute before Viktor breaks the ice.

"Yuuri, as General, it's my responsibility to know what's going on with my Rangers. Short story, I'm familiar with the extra diagnostics Mari ran on you."

He waits for an answer. Yuuri keeps pace slightly staggered behind him.

"So, now do you regret . . . me coming back?" Yuuri says very quietly and Viktor opts to ignore it, no, _refuses_ to answer it, because that's a rhetorical question, and the answer is _no_ all the way through the breach and back.

"Did you start taking medication?" Viktor probes instead.

"...Not yet."

"Do you have any?"

"...Yes."

"To prevent things like this from happening in the future, I suggest you start," Viktor says. "If you'd like more options, I can forward Mari's scans to medical."

"No," Yuuri says firmly. "I'll take what Mari got me."

They reach medical, but before pushing through the free-hinged double doors, Yuuri looks at Viktor and says,

_"I'm going to do this,"_ and it stands as an assertion maybe he couldn't say to Yakov but he can to Viktor, whose heart is doing triple flips and making him want to lose his resolve and shake him and say, "with whom, Yuuri, with _whom_ ", but by some miracle he keeps stoic and nods as they enter. A nurse in dull green scrubs running some dull digital paperwork looks up and gives Viktor a small salute.

"What can I do for you, General?" he says.

"Katsuki injured his shoulder in the Tango earlier," Viktor says.

"It's not bad," Yuuri tags.

"For sure. Let me get our Tango staff." The nurse rushes back. Medics are individually trained to be familiar with each Jaeger's circuitry. True, they could've been designed so that pilots feel no pain, but that takes the fight out of the fight. Nevertheless, when the Jaeger undergoes structural damage beyond a certain level, it can override the benchmark moduli set for pain. If the program were swimming in funding, that aspect would be better engineered, but now is not the time.

"I just need a better copilot," Yuuri mumbles as an afterthought as they stand and wait.

Why is Viktor's heart beating so fucking fast? Damnit, why is Yuuri leading him, _teasing him so_ when he made it ever so fucking clear that for whatever _fucking_ reason he couldn't pilot with Viktor, oh no, certainly not? _For FUCK'S SAKE Yuuri_ , Viktor wants to grind out through his teeth, and he wants to take his beautiful _fucking_ face in his hands and be close to him, close as possible, he would kiss him right now, he would.

Viktor well knows he's losing hold of himself. He turns to Yuuri. The Japanese man's looking away.

"You must have something to do," Yuuri says. Viktor wants to respond one way and instead responds the other.

"Yakov and I are going to look into the compatibility testing and see what we can work out. We still need you," Viktor says.

Then the nurse returns with a couple of Tango-trained staff and they take Yuuri away.

Viktor stands there, held in some kind of spell, for a few seconds and then pulls himself away.

He goes to bed early that night. Makkachin brings small comfort to him.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

He wakes up again at 3:47 a.m. and there's no question what he was dreaming about. There's the feeling that he won't get back to sleep if he tries, so he showers and goes for a walk, meandering through the less-travelled halls, letting his mind wander. Only the heart of the headquarters remains active at night; repairs continue on Jaegers in shifts.

He's not sure if he wants to sit on that one balcony, watching work continue so peacefully on the Tango; not sure if he wants to do nothing alone. Instead he takes the peripheral route passing by the Kwoon and . . .

. . . There's noise. He's on the side with no chance of spying, so he quickly reroutes himself through another corridor to the other end. Thwacks, grunts, feet on the mats; sounds like sparring. Surreptitiously he turns his line of sight past the doorframe, pressing his bangs back; replaces his posture in surprise. _What happens next will shock you: asshole cadet sparring with non-asshole cadet._ Indeed, it's Yurio and Altin.

"No, not like that," comes Altin's low voice.

"Dammit I've been trying this most of the time-"

"You're better, but you keep letting your foot slide."

An angry huff.

Hm, so maybe what Viktor inferred about Yurio after his spar with Altin wasn't far off. The look of frustration; the need to be reproven. But how he had convinced the other new pilot to train him was baffling. Zero personal charm doesn't go a long way when asking for favors, in Viktor's eyes.

He could keep walking, but he's more interested in how and when this ends, since he wasn't privileged to see the start. It's rather boring audio, with the two occasionally exchanging words, so Viktor leans back against the concrete wall and closes his eyes.

Eventually Altin says,

"It's 4:15," and there's the sound of shelving bos. "Are you getting a new copilot or not?" Viktor hears Altin continue.

Another exasperated huff (Yurio).

"I don't know, Yakov and General are being cryptic and blaming me for it, mostly. Well maybe not Yakov."

That seems to be the end of it, and even though Viktor is sure they'll exit the other way, he makes an efficient retreat.

And remembers that he forgot, yet again, to talk to Minako.

"Can't deny you're losing your mind over . . . " _. . . him,_ he mutters to himself, feet taking him to the shatterdome, 7th floor balcony. He can't keep ignoring it, not after today. The stakes are high. Nothing's certain. And he's still stubbornly clinging to that hope that there is some irrational reason Yuuri _just won't_ and that there's some way he can argue his way into the man. Or, and he's afraid of himself for this, if not, he might end up doing something stupid. Seems it's the trend, what with the Tango energycasting its own cannon into bits, and Yakov going all soft with Yurio.

Not all the floodlights are on at this time of night; instead, targeted lamps are hoisted or perched on the Tango's body, like decoration, aesthetic, almost. The night repair shifts gather here and there in their safety harnesses, sparks flying brightly. The Tango's heart is powered down, just a dull orange emanating from the chest. Viktor enjoys being in the shadow of something, for once, having to look up at the imposing, statutory warrior. Enjoys being in the presence of something greater, something that still he is a part of.

It's so _quiet_ compared to the daytime. The working sounds are a lullaby. He's reminded of a Rachmaninoff setting of a Shelley poem. Minimal, stepwise chords down. Ringing softly, bells.

деревья грустны, _(tall stand the trees)_

как мечты, _(sad as dreams)_

как статуи, безмолвны _(silent as statues)_

He doesn't need the track; he's listened to it enough times it can play in his head whenever he wishes.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[Listen to Astravok here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf467uY11Kw)


	13. Worth

Viktor's taken a cursory look at Yurio's files, even though he didn't want to. The kid somehow outranked his own exit stats (except in weightlifting). His attitude, he still determines, will change to admiration only when Yurio's earned it.

Yakov's called an 11 a.m. meeting today to discuss what's obvious. Viktor's nervous. He actually skipped breakfast, his stomach was off. He really has nothing against Yurio, no evidence. And really, he wouldn't be concerned with the kid if someone else had gotten in the Tango with Yuuri.

Viktor doesn't talk to Minako face-to-face, just checks his messages; the next set of data looks like three to four days. However, Viktor's asked Minako if she's changed her algorithm, since her last calculation was incorrect. That upset her; she tiraded on about the others working with her; but to Viktor it seems as if something else's afoot, as if Mari's mood is putting her coworker off. He can tell she's worried or upset or something about Yuuri, and of course he's not blind to the things she's disassembled, in the probable name of her Kaiju-drift fantasy.

At any rate, nothing seems to be in Viktor's favor at the moment.

And Yakov's sure to bring it up.

Viktor arrives a minute early, to the room where Yakov and he usually do joint work. It's a small committee present: Leo, detained to help sort out the mess, Guang-Hong and Minako. No Rangers.

Wearing a serious black coat with double buttons up one side, hat hanging on its usual hook, Yakov brings the meeting to order. The TV's silent and black on the wall.

"You all know what we're here to discuss. We can't have any more costly incidents like yesterday's occurring. First order of business, the event. We were riding on an over 60% chance it would be a category IV. Minako, please."

Minako's got some of her hair pulled back and some hanging free, wearing a dark grey peplum. She clears her throat. "I'm looking into that with the team. I assembled six staff from numericals to help run the numbers faster. . . however, there may be an error somewhere in the blue books since I wasn't able to triple-check their work."

"Are you saying you're too rushed?" Yakov asks. Viktor stifles a sigh in his throat. _Yes, Yakov, we all know you would drag your heels in closing the breach, we all know you don't agree with my timescale. The official timescale._

"I . . . wouldn't," Minako replies. "It needs to be done. We'll do as good a job as we can. The probabilities are tricky. To have such a good past record is quite a mathematical feat."

"I'm aware," Yakov says. "Can you be more confident of your latest prediction?"

"We're compiling it at the moment," Minako says.

Yakov nods curtly. Leo shifts in his seat; the psychologist's got an ankle on the opposite knee, somehow managing to carry off a casually professional vibe. Guang-Hong's leaning forward in his chair, shoulders curling inward and hands clasped, his usual, odd posture. "And the second order of business . . . our pilots of concern, Katsuki and Plisetsky." Yakov nods at Viktor. "Nikiforov, please. Your findings."

Although Viktor's good at talking and saying nothing at all (rehearsed skill), he can't really make much of the opening. He re-emphasizes Yurio's age, suggests that Yurio doesn't yet understand how to keep in the drift and communicate in the thick of the fight. Bringing up the issue of favoritism wouldn't be a smart move; it has too little immediate bearing on yesterday, and Viktor really doesn't want to start such a personal conversation.

But he knows that's still a possibility, as he turns it back to Yakov.

"Leo, Guang-Hong?" Yakov prompts the professionals for feedback.

Leo gives a half-shrug. "Without a doubt, there's a marked lack of . . . mmm, self-awareness in Plisetsky. He's very much still a teenager, and seems more brat than pilot. But anyone could tell that by his mouth. I'd need a few hours with him to say any more."

Guang-Hong just shakes his head ambiguously. "I already have said what the data told us, yesterday," he says. "Ah, that's it."

"Good," Yakov says. "I took a second look into Katsuki Yuuri's files. And I was surprised to find medical history that I believe wasn't present on his file at the time of assessment when he returned."

Viktor braces himself. He knows he could have probably hidden the trail of evidence, and he also knows (from experience) that, however painful this may turn out be, the false alternative is worse.

"I'm not aware whether Katsuki is currently taking the SSRIs listed, but at any rate, we sent a pilot into combat without awareness of a condition that could, and did, seriously endanger the mission." Yakov makes eye contact with Viktor. "At least, I was unaware."

Viktor leans his chin into his hand. "Mari did testing extra to the routine checks. I discovered this too late to do anything."

"How late?"

"After the mission began."

"We have other Jaegers, Nikiforov."

"Mari let me know . . ." Viktor doesn't want to put the blame on Yuuri's sib. And he doesn't want to put the blame on Yuuri. It leaves himself, and he has reached this conclusion several times today. ". . . that Yuuri indicated he was feeling up to the task. I trusted this, his history as a pilot. I made a mistake. I shouldn't have underestimated his experience with the Knifehead."

Yakov doesn't turn anymore attention to the fault of the act. Which Viktor is glad for, because the edges of guilt tinge him already; an unsure guilt, because is it wrong to trust Yuuri? Is it better to trust himself, allow his perceptions to dictate relationships? Oh, that's how his life is supposed to work as General, it's certainly how Yakov's works, but Viktor well knows that he himself has played that part out of duty and not out of conviction. Anyways, it's better to think of that secondary dilemma than to trace it back to the origin, to ask himself _why,_ truly _why_ he had plucked Yuuri off the wall, even if Yuuri agreed to it. Because Yuuri wouldn't be here if Viktor hadn't brought him. Because this mess wouldn't - _fuck, I wasn't going to think about that (again)._

What Yakov _does_ say is,

"Then, I should ask if Yuuri can continue to pilot." The Marshal looks at Leo. Leo gives an indecisive shrug again.

"As far as the medications go, I can't see a problem, as long as we've seen at least a couple weeks without side effects."

Guang-Hong pipes up. "Ah, excuse me, but, like I said yesterday, the phase - uh, it was mostly trouble due to his hemisphere, so I don't think we should neglect-"

"-oh certainly," Leo picks up the diminuitive man's sentence amicably, "Medications are the lesser worry. I've read his files enough to gather he survived a mission in 2023 where his copilot is listed as a fatality, meaning that presumably he experienced the death of his fellow Ranger in the drift. And, has had no treatment after that?"

It does sound ridiculous now that Leo says it out like that, but what were they supposed to do? They let him go, they assumed he would retire in relative peace, a satisfactory epilogue, and Viktor does feel ashamed now, that he didn't make sure that Yuuri got treatment. He knew, he'd seen Mari grow anxious when she couldn't reach him by phone, when she told him he hadn't gone back to Hasetsu with their parents, but when she gave up and just shook her head and muttered, he'd given up by default as well. These were hard days, for sure, but certainly, the General of the Jaeger program could've pulled strings. All this until Viktor remembers how irrationally _stubborn_ Yuuri has shown himself to be, and rationalizes that it wouldn't have made a difference anyways, but . . . but still. He could've tried more. Or does he just feel this way now because knows he's in lo--

"Rangers are a tough bunch. It was Viktor's initiative to track Katsuki down and bring him back." Yakov pushes the responsibility back to Viktor.

"He agreed," Viktor says, more of a musing. "He was working on the Wall in Alaska. I did bring up the subject of the Knifehead incident versus his return to piloting." Viktor looks up at Leo. "I don't doubt therapy would be beneficial, but I doubt you'll get him to agree. Rangers _are_ a tough bunch."

"Oh, don't stereotype so fallaciously. Rangers have more faults than the common PPDC soldier," Leo remarks. "At any rate, Marshal, General, you both know as well as I do that most of your teams are made up of two, at best, unimpressive humans. They just need the right match. I won't take any of this 'tough bunch' rhetoric. The very fact that you were able, and rightly so, I mean, it's my work, to send a teenage brat into a fight with an alien, controlling a hundred-billion-dollar piece of machinery, attests to the _fascinatingly_ paradoxical basis of the whole Jaeger program."

" . . .Are you suggesting that we re-match pilots?" Yakov says. "Or was your compatibility testing in error?"

"Marshal, my pocketbook is no deeper than yours. I feel at least two and a half years behind of where organizational psychology should have gotten me by now in respect to Jaeger pilots. There are ways pilots can throw results off. Katsuki is the obvious choice, since learning his history. He's young, but he could have come in with nothing in drift testing, if he has that skill. Then, in battle, it blows up in his face." Viktor can tell by Leo's posture and the clip of his voice he's enjoying this topic of conversation. "Of course, he should have known that would happen." Leo lapses into an important-feeling silence. "I would like to talk with him," he says, an afterthought.

"We can spend time figuring out the past later," Yakov says. "Right now, we need reccommendations for going forward."

"The world _does_ need saving." Leo straightens in his seat, raises his eyebrows, gives a tilt of the chin to Viktor. "Why not let Nikiforov give it a go?"

Both Yakov and Viktor are stunned for a moment.

"You mean to have Katsuki and Viktor as copilots," Yakov says.

Leo makes a dismissive gesture. "The results for physical testing were excellent. I'm just suggesting based on what I have. It's up to you. Or, if you can do with one fewer Jaeger . . . "

Well, for sure, both the General and Marshal know that's out of the picture. In its golden days, the Jaeger program had more than 20 Jaegers across the globe. Now, down to four, with Kaiju coming faster than ever - retiring one is not an option.

"Unfortunately-" Yakov starts, and then there's a _furious_ BANG BANG BANG BANG at the door. Guang-Hong gets up and jogs over to open it, to reveal the murky figure that Viktor somehow identfies as Yuuri outside the fogged glass.

There's alarm and urgency in his tone, his body, he exclaims, "Mari created a neural bridge from garbage and drifted with a Kaiju," and all of a sudden everyone's rushing out the room, everything forgotten.

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Mari's prone next to a ridiculously impressive contraption with something vaguely reminiscent of a pons on the chair she apparently fell off. Yuuri's the first at her side, hoisting her up, kicking away the machinery and shaking her. Minako crouches at her other side and starts yelling at the scientist; she's awake soon, but dazed; blood trails down from a nostril and her eyes are starkly bloodshot; she's shaking.

"I told you! I told you not to!" Yuuri's yelling in her right ear, and "You _idiot!_ Of all the stupid things to do!" from Minako in her left. This bombardment seems to get her attention and Yakov's taking center stage.

"Mari! Mari-"

"What did you see?" Viktor cuts in, because (if he's honest) he refused her on moral grounds, but now that it's happened he needs to know.

"It was only a fragment of a brain, so really all I was able to get was, like...a series of, uh, images...or impressions. Like when you blink your eyes over and over and over again all you really see ...are, like, frames." Mari's slurring, stumbling over words, not focusing on any one person.

"Mari," everyone's saying, trying to get her to focus, but eventually she fixes on Yuuri.

"Mari, Mari, please-" and once it becomes clear she's heard her brother, there's a bit of calm, and she says after a bit, shakily wiping blood from her nose,

"Okay. , I don't feel like they're just following some sort of animalistic urge...you know, hunting and gathering. Damn . . . I think they're attacking us under orders."

"That's impossible," Minako interjects.

"Is that?" Yuuri says.

"It's impossible," Minako restates.

"What's not impossible is the fact that Kaiju regularly come through the breach and we have to stop them," Yakov silences the two. "Mari, go to medical. None of this again. We need you in working order."

Viktor looks at the Marshal. "But what if-", he starts, at the same Mari says, "But-"

"We don't have time for this. Mari, I understand this may be important from a scientific perspective, but with our current timescale-" a reference to Viktor- "-understand these sorts of exploits aren't an option."

"Yessir," Mari says, still looking slightly out of it.

"Go to medical," Yakov says. Yuuri leads her off.

Everyone stands in a bit of confusion for a second.

"But-" Viktor starts, but Yakov's look shuts him down. And Viktor really can't argue, because it makes perfectly good sense, especially when Viktor's determined to shut the breach down, aliens in chain of command or not, in such a short time. And especially when there are larger issues at hand.

"Thank you," Yakov says to Minako, Leo and Guang-Hong, dismissing them. "We'll continue our discussion and reach a conclusion soon."

Viktor knows the conversation isn't over, and he and the Marshal head back to the meeting room, just the two of them. Nothing's said. Something is coming.

When the door closes, Yakov stands and looks pointedly at Viktor.

There's an uncomfortable, portending silence.

"So, 'Why not let Nikiforov give it a go?' Is this what you wanted?" Yakov probes, recalling the issue at hand, but it doesn't sound very questioning.

"Yakov, please." Viktor stands as well, they face each other, parallel to the long edge of the table. "I'm not trying to play any games-"

"You're always playing games, Vitya," Yakov says, and he sounds tired, and frustrated. "Just like this gamble of yours, which isn't working out. I can't allow it. I can't condone pushing our efforts so fast we don't even know what kind of Kaiju's coming through the drift."

"It was just _once,"_ Viktor says more defensively than he intends.

" _Once is enough to kill someone,"_ Yakov says, gaze flashing.

"Well, it didn't," Viktor says through gritted teeth. "Minako is more confident-"

"Do you want to remain General of the Jaeger program or not?" Yakov interrupts, bluntly.

Viktor blinks.

". . . Of course I do," he says, and it's softer, more delicate, and this hurts a bit, because here's his mentor, the man who's not a father figure but damn close, on the other side of the playing field as him. And what is he doing this for? What, again, is he _fucking fighting for?_ The next words out of his mouth answer. "But you heard Leo's recommendation."

"Viktor!" Yakov exclaims, and it makes Viktor flinch. The air sours, the mood deepens. "Listen to me. I have been a pilot. You haven't. Listen, Viktor." His name, so formal, so hard, a steel edge. "A Ranger is motion. They bend, they fight, they move. You, Viktor, and I, we are to be statues-" ( _see silent as, dreams, sad as)_ "-a fixed point of reference. When you become part of someone else, you start moving. You never stop. So stay where you are."

Viktor frowns darkly. "Another lesson to teach me?" He spreads his arms. "You already said it. I would like to pilot. It's no secret. I don't deny it. Now, Yakov, please, tell me why you are so protective of your favorite little Yurio? Why you ignored what Guang-Hong said about the depth of drift, just to have Yurio complete his first mission? Really, I can't take all the blame. Please, Yakov, tell me about Nikolai's grandson. Tell me about Nikolai. Oh, tell me what a _fixed point of reference_ you are-"

"Viktor. I do not need to explain myself. I don't need your sympathy. Or. Admiration," Yakov says bitterly, and very, very clearly.

In the moment, Viktor can't believe he's looked up to the man, he can't believe he's taken his every word as god-breathed since his Academy days, can't believe the mythos any longer. It's become a propagandous front, a disgusting veil of caustic nobility.

"I should have made you leave Katsuki on the Wall," Yakov says.

That brings Viktor past his limit for today, precisely because it coincides with his own self-doubt, and he can only half-recognize it. "He would've come back anyways," Viktor breathes, and that's just bluster, almost sarcasm, "because," and he's about to insinuate the theory he's made, the only explanation he can make out of Yakov and Yurio and Nikolai, "do you know, he must feel . . . like he has to make up for something. And I can tell, everyone can tell . . . from yesterday . . . it's made him _weak_ . . . but at least . . . he's not holding a facade - at least he's taking the _fucking_ risk -"

"Then _take your risk,"_ Yakov cuts in, shouting. "Become a pilot! Ruin what you've worked your life for on something that will destroy you!"

The room seems to quake under this assertion.

It hurts like hell but Viktor is bent on rebellion and he's too far to stop. He stands. He accepts.

"Vitya," Yakov says, turning and dismantling the tension, picking his hat up and placing it on his head, "someday you'll find yourself in pieces and you'll wish you had listened to me."

"I know," someone says, and Viktor realizes it's himself, what's left of his good judgement. _But it will be so fucking worth it._ Won't it?

"I leave it to you to let everyone know the timescale will be shifting back," Yakov says and leaves.

Viktor never really expected it be easy, did he? But he expected it to be _right._ And it's unfortunately clear that, despite what he wants, it might very well not be. If there's one thing Yakov never does - Yakov never lies. He might not tell the truth. But he's never lied. In the best of his coach's knowledge, this is the _wrong_ decision.

"I don't want your obedience. I want your respect," Yakov used to say to Viktor.

Viktor's chest tightens.

///////

 

[Mari](http://spelon-berry.tumblr.com/image/157620429267)


	14. For the Best

"Yuuri!" Viktor lilts, giving it his best attempt at the Japanese inflection. "Starting from today, I'll be your new copilot!"

The (former, and Viktor can add a belated interrobang on that) General went down to the bunkers, to Yuuri's room (57) and was about to knock on the door (he hopes he's timed it perfectly, just before Yuuri will head upstairs to go for his usual run) when it opened from within and Yuuri almost ran into him.

Now Yuuri just blinks. He's wearing casual shoes with black-and-orange runners strung together, suspended from one hand, water bottle in the other.

"...Viktor...what?" Yuuri says softly.

Truth be told, Viktor's been agonizing over how to and when to break the news, and he decided treading lightly might be the best introduction.

"Mm," Viktor nods affirmatively, "after the testing goes through. Which I'm sure it will, don't you think? Yakov, Leo, Guang-Hong, Minako and I all met yesterday and decided the best way forward is to give you a new copilot. Unless, of course, you'd like to stick with Yurio."

"He wouldn't let me, if I wanted," Yuuri says, looking down, then back up. His eyes say are you sure?, and question not only in the technical sense.

Viktor pokes at Yuuri's hesitancy. "I'm sure we're drift compatible after that spar."

The two start heading up to the shatterdome because there seems no better alternative course of action. Viktor expected this from Yuuri, hesitation evident in his every step, but he's clinging oh so tight to that certainty that Yuuri will eventually come to his senses.

The silence between them stretches on.

Viktor's already sent a network notification, and judging by the glances frequented his way as they go, more because of who he's with than who he is (who he is _now_ ), people have received the message.

He'll tell everyone at lunch time today. Then it's drift testing.

Still no more words pass between the two (the two new copilots, Rangers, Viktor's heart dances and flutters, he wonders if he'll be able to run). They climb to the running track. Yuuri sits down and switches his shoes, takes his glasses off and folds them carefully. Viktor's wearing his runners already. He shrugs off his jacket and slings it across a stack of box jumps, flips through music selection on his smartphone and selects Островок, because it's been running in his head ever since yesterday night.

They start warming up in sync, and Viktor follows Yuuri's routine.

He finds it curious that Rachmaninoff chose to switch to portending chords when the lyrics speak of the mild air, how the tempest never touches the little island, rolling major to minor, tense and grand. It's a sly setting, as sly as can be, and the darker melody teases at the close. It says, almost, _I could but I didn't . . . but I could._

It's clear Yuuri's got his routine down, alternating walking, jogging, sprinting. Viktor's fitness plan is LISS instead of HIIT; it seems to work for him; so their paces separate.

Forty minutes later and Viktor's very done with stretching while Yuuri pulls out of a last sprint, looking as fresh as he did 3 minutes in. Yuuri switches his shoes back, lodges his glasses back on his nose; Viktor gathers his jacket.

"I'm not unhappy," Yuuri says all of a sudden. "I'm very- very glad," he tells Viktor. Viktor looks into his brown eyes and thinks Yuuri cannot be close to how glad he is, that this, _this is really happening_ , it's sanctioned, cleared, allowed.

"It's just - well, you've always been my senior . . ." Yuuri says as they begin to go down.

Viktor picks and chooses how to respond.

"If you're worried I'm getting the short end of the stick, I'm very much not," he says. Doesn't leave too much for for that statement to settle. He has the feeling he'll be saying the like often enough. "To the gym?"

Yuuri shrugs. "Sure. There's still the drift testing to go," he says, cautionary. Viktor wants to clap back, but he's the believer now and he doesn't need to speak reality for it to come true, does he?

He still feels giddy, nervous, the most volatile cocktail of the best and tense emotions. It's clear Yuuri doesn't take this whole arrangement as 100% official yet (and it really isn't until after drift testing, but shouldn't Yuuri be pushing for it to be?), because he says to Viktor he intends to use free weights (doesn't need a spotter, _oh okay Yuuri, be that fucking way cause you've only got today to be all hesitant and avoidant)_ and they go their separate ways.

As soon as JJ and Isabella make land, though, JJ blasts up the music (something Ilenium) and heads straight to Viktor who's on the TRX, doing pushups with his hands gripping the yellow ropes tight. Viktor gets back to his feet, breathing heavily and takes a hard, swinging slap on the back from JJ.

"Heyyyy! Our newest Ranger! Haven't seen a fresh face like yours since, eh, last week!" JJ goes on garrulously. Viktor pushes JJ off, grinning.

"Where's Yuuri? He must be excited," Isabella says, smiling too. Viktor's glad for this reception; it's taken some weight off. But is it _that_ obvious? The notice he sent only said he'd be joining the Rangers. Not that he was replacing Yurio as Yuuri's copilot.

Yuuri is shelving 40 pound dumbbells and going for a different weight; he turns and says something to the effect of, "oh, yes,", and returns to his task.

"Well, it's definitely unusual, Gen- well, what do we call you now?" Isabella giggles. She's really the only pilot who _giggles._

"Just Viktor," he says.

"OK, just Viktor. Haha! Sorry," JJ says, giving Viktor another slap on the back and heading to the rowing machines with his fiance. "That's so weird, _Viktor_ ," he calls over his shoulder.

Viktor didn't know JJ's laugh could be so comforting.

He entertains the idea of playing it down, like Yuuri's trying to, when Mila and Sara enter, but damn it, he's waited his whole fucking life for this and he won't contain himself now; no, he can moderate, but he can't contain.

"So, whose idea was it?" Mila asks. She's got her pink-red-dyed hair in a stubby braid off to the side, loose, shiny black cropped shirt hanging elegantly on her frame, bra straps showing, blue and fuschia-striped leggings outlining the curve of her thighs and calves. Viktor's never been unsure she's a creature of near perfection, but he's never been attracted to her, and he's always just thought it was because she was taken. Of course, he's had girls, in the Academy, of course (unwritten requirement for Jaeger program General: charisma), and then that one mistake with Chris, but - nothing serious, no one that makes him feel like he's being set on fire quite as much as the Japanese man doing bent-over rows a tantalizing 20 feet away from him.

Viktor's already answered Mila noncomittally. This was a necessary, logical decision, of course, nothing too extraordinary. Exciting, yes, but nothing outrageous. (He wants to contain Yakov's perspective.)

"I can demand you spot me now, right? You'll eat the same bland lunch as us now, yes?" Sara says. She's a different sort of beauty, something you might be scared of if you go closer, so you don't. Her eyes are her best feature, or her right hook.

Viktor laughs. "Yes, although don't be tricked, the executives don't get much better."

"I hear you have desserts sometimes," Mila comments.

"Not good for the figure anyways," Viktor jokes.

Otabek and Emil come in and Emil brings up the subject with Viktor immediately. The young Kazakh doesn't mention anything; as a new cadet, Viktor wasn't expecting any reaction from him.

When he's done and ready to shower (Yuuri's gone first), Viktor's relieved enough but not as settled as he'd hoped. At least it looks like he'll be fine sorted with the Rangers, and his previous efforts to join the crowd will be rewarded. But how about his copilot? How about the one he absolutely needs to connect with? They might have more time now that Yakov's in full charge, but Viktor doesn't want to take it slow any longer.

At lunch, the announcement's staged as usual on the low platform in the mess hall. There are more assembled here now than were for Yurio and Otabek's introduction. It's mandatory.

Yakov, Leo, and Viktor are center stage, but Yuuri and Yurio, as well as Guang-Hong and Minako, stand by them.

The Marshal's told Viktor he's going first, so Viktor addresses the crowd. Tells them what's gone down with brevity. Just the facts. Leo's analysis, the rematching, the testing this afternoon. Leads into Yakov's part by foreshadowing the change of plans.

"The timescale will be changing," the Marshal says. He leaves longer pauses between his sentences than Viktor does. Lets it work, sink in. "We'll release a new protocol and schedule of duties within the week. This will allow all our analytic staff more time to create accurate algorithms and predictions. Our new pilots will have more time to train together and ensure no further mistakes cost us precious resources. However, we will not be backing down. We still swear to defend humanity and bring an end to this alien plague affecting us all." Yakov's thunderous voice always obliges applause, and a small round goes up.

"I realize this pilot shift is unusual," Yakov continues. "The first priority will still be given to established pilots. Nikiforov and Katsuki, if they pass testing, will train as a backup pilot pair. We intend to match Plisetsky by going through Academy cadets again, and follow a similar scenario. It's not a competition, but the pilots of the Coyote Tango _will be_ the most competent pair."

Murmurs start. And Viktor realizes he's been too over-the-moon to think about (care about) whatever will happen to Yurio. Three pilots, to be augmented to four, one Jaeger. But now, the question is, what says competent? How will that be decided? Yakov's sort of giving an answer.

"Leo Iglesia is continuining on with us to ensure that our Rangers are the best men and women for the job. We hope to reach final decisions soon."

That's the end, apparently, and everyone starts milling around or dispersing.

Viktor turns to Yakov to say something, but in Yakov's eyes he finds the look of Yakov, the Marshal, the former Ranger, and not that of Yakov, not his mentor.

He glances away, not expecting any warmth or comfort from the man. He would like the warmth of a hand on his shoulder, the reassuring timbre assuring that they were still together on this, and maybe in the same situation under different circumstances, they would have been. But not with both their hands forced, seemingly by Yuuri and/or Yurio, but really by the past, the waves that have delayed ever so long in breaking on the shore.

He can only remain so reminiscent for a moment before he turns into the light, the attention, the presence of his goal, his prize, his reward, Yuuri (his Yuuri, he wants to say, would give anything to) who stays long enough so that they depart together. And even that small gesture is enough to lift Viktor up again.

"So they're going to find someone new for Yurio, too, and it's either them or us," Yuuri says, almost asking for confirmation.

Viktor shakes his head. "I suppose that's the plan." Wryly he grins. "I don't have a say."

". . . Is it nice, not worrying about that side of things?" Yuuri says.

Viktor feels the corner of his mouth pull down in a clear answer. No, he'd rather be in control. He'd rather keep banking on Minako and Mari. He'd look into Mari's Kaiju drift. He'd take that risk. He'd get the job done.

"Let's see how terrible your cuisine really is," Viktor says instead. This pulls some sort of smile out of Yuuri, and they go to eat.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

"Don't you want to go see your sister?" Viktor has asked Yuuri, but his copilot ( _his copilot, !, or soon-to-be_ ) softly says, "After."

Drift testing and they're in the simulation room under much different circumstances than last time. Yuuri looks stoic, controlled; he's been a little more talkative up till now, but suddenly he's fallen silent as the two hopeful pilots dock themselves in the archaic setup.

Leo and some technical assistants stand at the control panel.

It's a very simple, quiet kind of test. Only the assessors have anything to gain in spectating.

Instead of the AI for real drifting in the Jaegers, it's just one of the techs giving updates.

Viktor closes his eyes. He's drifted before with Chris, but those times he can count on one hand.

"Initiating drift," says the tech. And Viktor's sucked into that mind-bending, disorienting vortex of just blue and the colors and thoughts behind his eyes, lasts the split second where he's calibrated to Yuuri, and then he feels the snap into place - "Neural handshake completed" - and slow drifting-down of puzzle pieces to complete this joint map of their consciousnesses, braces for impact.

He's got his eyes closed. First drifts usually require concentration to even get talking to your copilot, without actually talking to your copilot, of course. You can't just start punching everything right off the bat. Been a long while since he's done this, but the experience stays engraved, from his few times drifting with Chris. With Chris the drift was, as is typical for first drifts, a jarring shared space of themselves, and at first it was almost overpowering; the tiniest inkling of a thought you had seemed to amplify tremendously into both drift participants. Uncontrolled images, smells, textures, tastes, and emotions washing up on each other as two people connected in the deepest way technology could provide. Could be frightening, and at the very least disorienting. There's something incredibly daunting about gaining access to someone else, like your world doubles, like the whole universe has made a copy of itself and overlaid onto what it used to be. Lucky for Viktor, Chris had been an experienced pilot and kept his side of the drift pretty orderly, after initial neural handshake, laughed at Viktor after for what a newbie he was. A brief dipping of confidence runs through Viktor. No doubt it takes a honed talent for Rangers to control this shared dialogue. Same sort of idea as in sparring with bos. Just a lot more symbolic. A lot more important.

There's static and fuzz, bits and pieces and then . . . and then nothing. Viktor feels like he's in the dark, and although the room has gotten bigger, there's nothing in it. He was expecting beautiful, wonderful chaos and frankly, he's disappointed, and of course he jumps to the nearest conclusion which is that Yuuri's still hiding inside himself (however he does that, Viktor can't grasp). Of course, as soon as he thinks that, he's fairly sure Yuuri's understood it (you can run and you _can_ hide), and what was to be the highlight of his day quickly turns into something he wants to be over with.

Leo can certainly tell from his waveforms the drift is no different than with Yuuri and Yurio. They disconnect fairly soon after. Viktor gives Yuuri a tight-lipped look.

"Thanks, gentlemen," Leo dismisses them.

Once outside, they start heading to medical to check on Mari, but Viktor feels the need to bring up what just happened.

"I'm no fool, Yuuri, I've drifted before," he says, closely, rough. He feels like Yuuri's struggling to come up with a response.

"Please, it's for the best," Yuuri responds afer moment, glancing only just long enough at Viktor to hint at shame, pain, something fighting up from under the surface. He keeps walking but Viktor stays him by the arm just before they come out into the medical hallway.

"Yuuri, there's no point in us doing this if we can't make a real connection," Viktor says. There are those walls in Yuuri's eyes again.

"It will work. Yurio doesn't respect me; we could never fight together. But, you, well . . . " Viktor knows Yuuri's stopping short of saying "you do respect me". It drives him mad. " . . . I'm sure it will be fine," Yuuri trails lamely.

 _I more than just fucking respect you, Yuuri,_ Viktor wants to say, but of course, doesn't.

"I'm not talking about the pure feasability of us as copilots," Viktor says instead, not as carefully as he would as General.

"I'll work hard, no more mistakes." Yuuri's clearly looking to close the conversation and Viktor refuses him that out.

"Yuuri." How to get through to this man? "Were you lying to me when you agreed to rejoin the program? Because w-Yakov might as well give the Tango to Yurio and a random Academy cadet with how you're acting. Like you don't fucking _want_ it." Viktor shrugs, accusatory. The words, once out, are sharper, more heavy than he intends, and Yuuri's standing apart from him and there are _tears_ in his eyes and oh _fuck_ he's made him _cry_ and Viktor can't bear to look; he grimaces; "Yuuri I didn't mean--"

"I know you didn't mean that!" Yuuri bursts out. "You can't be using me as a way into a Jaeger! Of course not! No, I have to believe the General of the Jaeger program would -- would give up everything, in a heartbeat, to pilot with a failed- " --the f comes out vicious, forced, honest-- " -- Ranger --"

Never has Viktor regretted saying something more, though he's dully aware that much of this reaction is Yuuri's own projections; still he wants to burn those doubts from Yuuri's mind. He must appeal to history. "Yuuri, we were friends before-"

" -- and that was it!" Yuuri's expression is hurt, pleading. Viktor sees him struggle in a breath, the air shake down unstably into his chest. But Viktor can't see how much of a change this is, how big the gap from General to Ranger seems to be, inundated by his own emotions and perceptions and history.

Yuuri's eyes flinch up. "Going to see Mari," he says and turns away, walks off quickly, leaving Viktor, leaving Viktor, damn it he's always _leaving Viktor._

_I would have been long gone in a drivesuit if it were just my ambition and I, just my dreams and I, not the world standing in the way and certainly not the lack of you, you, Yuuri, because I'm still convinced it's you, it's going to be us._

But what can he do? Words are too weak now. They're flimsy, crumbling under the weight of perceptions.

He can prove it. He can prove he's not doing this for him _-fucking-_ self. That's what Viktor will do. He will stand by Yuuri, he determines. He'll believe in Yuuri more than the man believes in himself, because it's fairly obvious Yuuri's attached _failure_ to his self-concept and Viktor will wear down, rub out, peel back that _fucking_ idea from Yuuri's mind, hone claws if he has to, leave behind all social graces and _attack_ that idea, uproot it, eliminate it.

Maybe it's not rational, but it doesn't have to be anymore, does it? Well, he's started already. It's a mad idea, and he's sure not to get away from its consequences; maybe if they were classmates or coworkers, or fellow musicians or athletes it would be an easier matter; but not so easily with their minds synchronized to the core of one the most expensive pieces of machinery on the planet, Earth's fate hanging in the balance.

What love will do to you.


	15. Show Him

Viktor spends the rest of the afternoon trying to hide from just about everything and starts moving his things down to pilot quarters, Makkachin either clueless to the turmoil inside her owner or just eager to cheer him. The poodle always helps him feel better.

He's gotten to choose a vacant room (there are several) so naturally he bunks in 58, across from Yuuri.

Technically, he should be waiting until it's officially announced that he and Yuuri will be copilots, for certain, but the physical, monotonous task is what he needs right now.

It's a shanty compared to his former living quarters. Sparsely furnished, desk space enough and a bed, just for crashing, not like pilots have much of their schedule dedicated to me-time. And Viktor's glad to ditch the dresser full of copies of the same suits and ties and dress shirts and pants, even though he must give up his private bathroom. The one thing Ranger bunkers _do_ have, though, is a projection screen; smaller than Viktor's old one, but necessary to obtain notices on what's happening in the shatterdome.

Viktor's got a box of the less-formal wear scooped in his arms and Makkachin's happily accompanying him on the trip down when Minako joins him out of nowhere. She's furiously sipping coffee from a thermos.

"Why are you leaving me to deal with that man?!" she hisses once they're sub-ground. "It's not like he doesn't appreciate me, but, he doesn't _trust_ me! He's taken my team and basically put them on the same level and re-assigned me out of the K, into analysis!"

"Yakov? I'm not exactly surprised," Viktor says as they arrive at 58 and Viktor kicks the door open enough to get in, Makkachin squeezing ahead of him.

"I know he doesn't like me, but General, it's un _fair!_ "

"Viktor, not General now," he corrects her.

"Viktor," Minako repeats, making a face like that feels strange in her mouth. She sighs. "Believe me I didn't make the mistake on my own, about the Yamarashi attack. It was-"

"Don't apologize, I was rushing you," Viktor says bluntly, setting the box down on the bed and turning around to face Minako again. "Yakov's not all wrong."

Minako's mouth pulls to one side. "Well, alright, but I still believe it was more due to process and not timeline. And Kaiju will come through the drift whether we predict it well or not."

"Give it a go, Minako," and Viktor realizes he sounds tired, "see if it's any better like this. I wouldn't have chosen this, but-I'm sure it'll work out." _Fuck,_ he sounds like Yuuri.

Thoughfully, unsatisfied, Minako sips her coffee, taps the concrete floor. "So you're really Ranger-ing then? Huh. Pfff. _Fine._ I suppose. What if Yurio and whoever get selected over you and Yuuri? You'll return?"

"They won't," Viktor says, too confidently, or not confidently enough.

Minako just raises an eyebrow.

"Just . . . try and look on the bright side. No more entrails or kaiju goo on your maths," Viktor says, cracking a half-smile. Minako returns it.

"At least Yakov won't let Mari carry on with her idiotic Kaiju drift ideas," she mutters. "Ah, Gen- _Viktor-_ do you want any help?"

"Oh, no," Viktor dismisses her offer with a wave of his hand.

Looking like she's about to leave, Minako instead says, "I suppose we can be friends now, correct?"

"We were always friends, to me," Viktor says.

"Ah, yes. Just, _more_ friends now."

"Of course."

" . . . It is _very_ strange, you know."

" . . . I know."

"See you around, then." She leaves.

Viktor enjoys supper with the Rangers that evening. It almost feels like he might have a chance at becoming part of the family, and he converses easily with JJ, Sara, Mila, Isabella, Emil, Otabek (the Yuuris nowhere to be seen). Here and there, there's awkwardness, stiffness, hesitation, but really it's not bad and he genuinely enjoys it.

Despite his usual philosophy on not bothering retired Jaeger program members (they've earned their rest), Viktor feels like he really does need to let everything out on someone and the best person for that, of course, is Chris. God knows where the man is, but Viktor hopes he's enjoying himself, he hopes his friend is spending his time making up for something that will never be made up for. He retires to his new quarters, tracks the number on his phone, dials it.

"Never thought you'd leave the office for good," Chris says after the pick-up and the _hey_ s.

"It's over the news already?"

"Someone always leaks it." Chris laughs. Viktor smiles a sad-happy smile because he misses Chris' voice and is glad to hear it again.

"How's wherever you are now?" Viktor asks.

"Italy. Good. Weather could be better. Lots of food and girls and boys, and politics, bragging about their contributions to the wall," he says. "I, of course, protest heavily. You're still the best and brightest. Right?"

"Right," Viktor says. "Though Yakov wouldn't agree."

"You two haven't fallen out, no?"

"Yes. I don't know. I think so. I feel like this is bad, Chris, and I keep going."

"Yes, yes, darrrrrrrrrling, spill it," Chris says and there's a grin in his voice. "Tell me why you really split from that suit-and-tie gig. No one's mentioned your copilot. Who's it?"

"I . . . Well, you must've heard about the Yamarashi yesterday."

"Mm, yes, didn't pay attention much," Chris says noncomittally.

Viktor can't blame him for estranging the Jaeger world as much as he could. He gives him a brief rundown. " . . . So Yakov split up the pairs, but Leo suggested Yuuri and I give it a try."

"Why?" Chris remarks.

"I sparred with him on compatibility testing day."

"Why?" Chris pushes.

"Wanted to."

"Why?"

" . . . Chris. You know. Why else would I call you? Not to chat about the mundane, loveless paperwork I have to sort out every day."

"Finally, Viktor," Chris exclaims. "So, you and Yuuri must be doing . . . very _thorough_ training."

"Chris." Viktor rolls his eyes, an activity done most frequently when in conversation with, who else, Chris. "It's fucking terrible so far. We were - me and Katsuki - friends before, right?"

"Right. You were pretty good friends with everyone."

"Exactly! But now he's fucking hiding from me in the drift, he's saying shit about why I actually left the General position, he-"

"-is playing hard to get?"

"- . . ." Viktor's about to say something then stops and sighs to himself. "No . . . I really don't know him well enough yet . . ."

"That means he doesn't know _you_ well enough yet, then," Chris laughs. "Show him, Viktor."

"Yes, sure, but I came here to vent," Viktor says, annoyed. Another laugh over the line. "I don't understand. Especially after Phichit died. Why he's so avoidant."

"Do you mean _because_ Phichit died? . . . Like, Viktor. Just because he came back doesn't mean he's done working through shit."

"Hm." Viktor recalls Yuuri's outburst earlier; he's never known Yuuri to be the outburst sort; he's reminded of the shaky, troubled breaths, how he hurried off. _You picked the most inconvenient person and time,_ Viktor scolds his heart. "What if it never becomes mutual," Viktor murmurs, almost forgetting Chris is there.

"You mean, what if he doesn't like me back? Ha, Viktor, _everyone always_ likes you, whether it's back or not."

"Ha!" It's Viktor's turn to cackle. "Not Yuri Plisetsky, cadet spawn from hell."

"Oh, yes?"

"He's Nikolai's grandson. Yakov pretends not to have affection for the child."

"Unbelievable," Chris laughs, "God, sounds like things are getting good over there."

They talk for a while longer and Viktor hangs up. He doesn't want to trouble Chris any more than necessary. He's lying on the bed, Makkachin next to him, making it obvious the two must now be satisfied with the smaller space; or rather, Viktor must, because she's not giving him any space.

With a sigh, he heaves himself up and starts folding away clothes in the drawers under the bed, mulling over what a strange day it's been, when someone knocks at the door, already ajar. He turns and Makkachin's enthusiastically greeting . . . Yuuri? Who looks downcast, quiet, but he's here nonetheless.

"Sorry," is the first thing Yuuri says. He's standing stiffly there, looking like he's struggling to get the words out. Viktor hastens to the door. _Maybe Mari talked sense into him._ "Look . . . I really do want to pilot again. I want it more than anything," his voice drops off quietly.

Viktor gives him room to continue.

" . . . Leo didn't mention anything official to you, did he?"

"No," Viktor says. "He must've not decided yet."

"-He said medication isn't enough but he's willing to try again after a couple weeks if that's the problem but it probably isn't," Yuuri bursts out, all the words strung together.

"What?" Viktor says. He wants to reach out and take Yuuri's hand, the man looks so fucking anxious, clenching and unclenching a hand, other one petting Makkachin in an almost forced way.

"Well - the drift - I just - thought I didn't want to get in there, it would be a mess, but I see if you're really committed to this, we should," he says.

"Should . . . " Viktor feels balanced on a knife edge; holding a fragile heart; glass, prone to shatter.

"Leo offered . . . to get me a professional psychologist- but I - no, I can tell someone better in the drift - so I guess what I'm asking is. . . can we try again. Knowing you'll get . . . probably, get everything when Phichit . . . died in my head."

His copilot's knuckles are white, gaze glitches up and then back down.

Viktor catches, cradles, treasures that glass heart.

"Of course. If you trust me enough," he says, it's quiet, hushed. He watches Yuuri bite his lip.

"Thanks," Yuuri says.

"Don't thank me. We're copilots now."

"I hope so," Yuuri says quietly and it makes Viktor's heart leap inside of him. "So . . . tomorrow? It's kind of late."

"Yes, of course."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Yuuri."

Yuuri gives Makkachin a farewell pat and retires to his own quarters.

At least the former General can sleep tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must apologize for the entirety of this story is me brain spewing onto paper when i am exhausted after 5 - 8 hours of nothing but integrals, inertia and inductance. i write it for myself though it's here because someone may happen to enjoy it. i am sorry I don't know the meaning of pacing, and in fact, i don't have time to learn as much. also I changed the title, which is another line from Astravok. and don't worry, Yurio is the light of my life, more on him later.


	16. Not Just a Dream

**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M - 01_10_2025_21_33**

_There's a good reason for not logging sooner, or maybe not such a good reason. So I built a makeshift pons and did manage to set up a weak drift with the piece of the Kaiju brain. And damn, it was cool! And weird! But mostly cool! It wasn't as concrete as I'd hoped. I just got some flashes and impressions. But I'm pretty sure this isn't some random flowing of creatures from one place to the next anymore. They're being controlled. There's some master plan._

_Not that that means much without another drift to get more information. So now I gotta figure out how to find another Kaiju brain - oh yeah, did I mention shit's all messed up now? The Yuris botched their first mission so now Viktor's replacing Yurio as Yuuri's copilot. Honestly I'm a bit relieved. Well, I was, until Yuuri stalked into my room (yeah, they put me in medical for a bloody nose and insisted on doing completely unnecessary brain scans, I'm perfectly fine, it was just a fragment of a brain after all) all panicky._

_He started blurbling - blurbling? is that a word? No? I don't care - blurbling about drifting and crap and I had to, fragile injured me had to, calm him down and try and get him to breathe again. Damn, I've never seen him so . . . panicky. Of course I asked him when he'd started taking the medications I'd recommended and he said it was the day of the Yamarashi attack. Side effects come on pretty quickly. I told him it'll probably get worse before it gets better._

_Anyways, what was I saying? . . . oh yes, he was trying to justify why he keeps bringing nothing into the drift. And I mean, no, you don't want unload on just anyone, but, come on. I doubt he's ever really even talked about the Knifehead incident and his emotions directly, to anyone, and it's just making him a wreck. Come on Yuuri, you've got a copilot, it's not rocket science, he's gotta either talk to a therapist or someone else he trusts, and he's gonna have to trust his copilot anyway, so why not Viktor?_

_Seriously, Yuuri can be so damn stubborn. But I think he heard me._

_And then of course got angry at_ me _for drifting with the Kaiju. Well, I had to! I'm employed here to do my part in the saving the world, don't I? Agh, of course he's got a point, how do I expect him to take good care of himself if I'm taking risks like this. But soon he will be too._

_I made him promise to tell me of any other side effects he experiences. I think he agreed._

_I actually don't feel 100%. Got a killer headache despite the painkillers they put me on. Well, I could've gotten a higher dosage, but I figured I'd tough it out. Regretting that now._

_Oh, did I mention Yakov's cleared Minako out of the K? It's awful. It's going to be terribly boring. I'll go insane, talking to myself. Or into this thing. All day._

_Mari out for now._

_iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii_

Viktor's (emotionally) exhausted and falls asleep, only to be awoken by sounds at . . . he rolls over . . . 5:06 a.m. He pushes Makkachin off him, stumbles around in the unfamiliar dark and fumbles at the door until his brain kicks in a little more and reminds him it's got a wheel to open, not a handle.

The concrete floor is cold and he fumbles into the hallway, searching for the sound source. Seems to be room 57. The sounds are urgent, yelling, ugly starts and stops, sounding like they're muffled only by concrete walls; Viktor heaves Yuuri's door open (it's unlocked) and Yuuri's shifting violently in his sleep, crying out, thrashing. The first response is to frantically turn on the lights, rush over and do _something,_ which happens to be say his name and be rewarded with a slap in the face, kicking; Viktor recoils,

"Yuuri! Yuuri! What's going on?" But it seems like the Japanese man's waking, paradoxically becoming more still, panting, slowing motions that seem to be fighting figments of his imagination. Viktor's kneeling on the mattress, subconsciously wraps his hand around Yuuri's wrist to get his attention. "Are you alright?" he asks.

Yuuri's panting, dishevelled, blinking away, arriving at stillness, catching his breath, "h-what?!... oh . . . " he trails, gaze still chasing whatever remnants of the dream remain.

"I heard yelling. Sorry, I just needed to check. You're alright?" Viktor repeats.

"Yes," Yuuri says, uncertainly, seeming to just now grasp his true surroundings and the man with him. Viktor's wearing a loose crewneck and shorts; Yuuri's topless and Viktor's soon going to be distracted; he keeps his eyes up on his copilot's face. "It's - it's just a dream." In a spurt of admittance, he says, "I think the medication's making them worse." He frowns. "What time is it?"

"Five," Viktor responds. Yuuri pushes his hair back and exhales, withdraws his hand from Viktor's grip rather abruptly, triggering Viktor to stand and bring the distance between them back to something a bit more routine.

"I guess I'll just get up," Yuuri says, the redness in cheeks maybe now attributable to a blush. "Uh, sorry to wake you."

"Oh, no," Viktor says. He's quickly being overcome by the man and how he can appear so fucking _irresistible_ in the 5 a.m. light, sitting up in the shifting sheets; Viktor would love to have him in his arms, ever so glad that these recent events aren't just a dream, for him. "I'll go get ready then too," he says, and leaves room 57.

It's strange, being in suspense while official decisions are made behind closed doors.

But the announcement comes after lunch. (Viktor and Yuuri spent the morning training, they went outside and ran with Makkachin for a spell.)

The former General and the returning pilot are all clear for compatilibility.

Congratulations are given. Yurio, again, is nowhere to be seen. Viktor isn't too worried that he doesn't care. He's not General anymore.

Leo calls Yuuri separately for some extra tests, though, ruining the mood. Viktor hangs out with Sara and Mila while JJ and Isabella have their turn in the field room (which is a much more state-of-the art simulation room for training, without drift capability but with a holographic field), bantering back and forth.

All this just to pass time until after supper. Everyone's checking the LOCCENT board for next predictions, but nothing's coming yet from analysis, which is rather frustrating.

It's technically free time after supper and everyone goes off separate ways. Yurio's showed back up, and he, Otabek, JJ, Isabella and Emil go to the (roughed-in) basketball court.

Viktor and Yuuri to the simulation room.

"We don't have to yet if you don't want to," Viktor says as he turns everything on. Leaves the blinds closed on the windows looking out, above the control panel.

"We need to," Yuuri says, looking like he'd rather not, though determined. He goes to the pons. "Uh, Viktor, can I take the right, just for now?"

"Of course. I don't have any preference," Viktor says.

They stand side-by-side, neither locking their feet in the mock foot docks, leaving the arm pieces down. Viktor puts the control on a little ledge to his right and asks, "Ready?"

Yuuri takes a deep breath and nods.

Viktor hits the button.

There's the blue, the rush of colours, disorientation, the wild search for the other consciousness, and then the snap, the drifting, the lens focusing.

It's not empty this time, it's not dark.

It's the abrupt _slap_ of two minds colliding. Overwhelming as with Chris. Bits and pieces of memories, impressions, tempting RABIT trails whir past, or is Viktor the one moving? And he's lost control of his own dialogue as well. Everything shifts and slides in a jumble.

Something draws closer to both of them, Viktor can feel, they're somwhere in the same area of space, a _shrieking_ of metal, overwhelming machine sounds, electric systems shorting out with the addition of water, red-blue-green-mostly-red displays flashing up in his field of vision, like a lens, staying superimposed no matter where he turns. The guttural emotions of excitement, concentration, pressure wash over him. These are human emotions, but they're so much more powerful than his own; coming from outside of him, or rather, as if they've moved inside of him, from Yuuri.

At first he's just being tossed around but then he's wearing a drivesuit and the controls for the right mortar cannon snake along his right gauntlet, flashing red, there's what looks like magnified texture, _kaiju skin,_ Knifehead, filling the helm window of the Tango and he's giving it fight, screaming with Phichit beside him despite the drag, the heaviness of the injured Jaeger. The Tango labors to make contact with the alien, 2700 pounds of thick skin, 315 feet of destruction; they bring the Tango's fists together and smash down on Knifehead's crown; the monster responds by lunging, snapping at the Tango; the pilots block the Kaiju's jaws, and Phichit's yelling to LOCCENT about their energycaster which comes back online with three of its moduli. Viktor feels a yell rip out of him, the adrenaline, the furious hope fueling the perfect synch of the pilots' connection, raising the weapon and firing three messy, destructive webs of plasma into Knifehead's chest.

Viktor's tripping, following along, as there's the unmistakable swell of victory in his chest and it's amplified because Phichit's there too and they've just done it again, as the Kaiju's signature drops off the map, and the alarms seem to fade into the background. Outside the floodlamps hoisted by helicopters still dance across the choppy waves in the black of night, rain lashing down.

_"Kaiju signature rising! It's not dead! Repeat, it's not dead!"_ interrupts the silent conversation the pilots are having, _"Chulanont, Katsuki, it's still there,"_ and it's Viktor's own voice, too urgent and so dissociative hearing it, experiencing it in the drift. Obediently he, Yuuri, Phichit, (they, the drift experience), scan the waters, headlamp on full; committing back to the task, though their screen shows no evidence.

Surprise, shock, as the Kaiju throws itself up out of the water, at their backs. It's a violent weight. Jaws and teeth scrape against the helm glass. The pilots start charging the energycaster, Yuuri's, as Phichit's fending it off with his arm, dancing back through the waves through the onslaught. Mutually they urgently fire off one modulus. Knifehead lets out an unbecoming screech, clamps around the right arm. Pain rips up, explodes through Viktor's right shoulder and deltoid, whitens the drift, drives a temporary wedge in the communication; Tango falls off-balance. The kaiju rips the whole arm off.

Knifehead launches itself up further, prying at the helm once more. Viktor's, Yuuri's, struggling to snap back into drift, he's just back in with Phichit, readying to prepare the energycaster again, there's some concern coming over and still a lot of fucking pain - " _you OK?" "yeah I'll be fine"_ -but he's just gotta, gotta do this, they reconnect, the waveforms back in and-

there's a CRUNCH-shattering-metal and wire and tons of robotics chomped down ripped off _crushed in an instant_ as the Knifehead effectively bites away half of the Tango's head. But all this noise is silent. So silent. Compared to the drift.

In the drift, Phichit's alarm becomes his copilot's own, but loses all rationality. Everything - everything just stops working. Feels like his brain has been torn from his head and turned back around. And he's screaming, he's panicked, he knows Phichit's going critical, god he can _feel_ him, he's dying inside his mind and he can't _FUCKING_ do a thing, it's over, of course, of course, in a matter seconds, the Knifehead gloating, still enraged, letting carnage drop from its mouth or suck back down into its throat as it swings back for more.

The remaining pilot's still reeling as Phichit goes _blank._ Goes dark. Goes. Just goes.

A dull, nauseating _snap_ saturates, festers in the emptying drift.

He's gone.

He's dead.

Just like that.

Viktor's, Yuuri's, the pilot, his shoulder's still in pain, scarring as he stands, swaying in shock, desperately grappling the drift, the sudden dull emptiness, for anything, but nothing except a terrible mixture of fear and something else courses through them. A terrifying aloneness. Distraught, failing to understand.

Everything's going critical inside the hull. The display is half-gone. The energycaster's back to red, flickering. LOCCENT's gone.

The Kaiju greedily ploughs its speared head through the Tango's chest and pain sears through its pilot alike. It's gore, slaughter, thousands of circuits destroyed, careful welding ripped apart, delicate calibrations shielded by the best mechanical engineering Earth can provide crushed in a moment.

All this pain and there's one emotion left to feel, there's one more useful reaction, something pain can generate.

It's not exactly anger, but it's the reliance on instinct, the fight that's been drilled into him since his Academy days.

He just has to hold on, load the energycaster, get a grip, let off one good shot. The Knifehead's already weeping blue blood into the ocean, even as it lunges in for another good tear at the Tango's sparking shoulder and half-demolished mortar cannon.

The pilot's reached his limit, but he's still going, he's fighting the alien and his machine, which has technically been designed for solo piloting but in the cleanest way possible, and this, this is the messiest fucking hell he's ever seen.

Lag, weight, searing pain, loss, fuck it all, _fucking why,_ he struggles up, heaving, instinct, determination.

Energycaster flickers to blue and he fires as the Knifehead's making to finish decapitation.

Point blank.

Screeching roar from the alien and it topples massively back to the waves.

Into the dark. Terror melts. Adrenaline remains. Pain forces his eyes and mind open when he wants to shut it all, shut down.

He's mourning desperately.

He's sitting on the floor in the sim room and Yuuri's in his arms _weeping._ Just fucking _weeping._ And there are tears down Viktor's face too, for this snapshot, glimpse into what's been flogging Yuuri's memories since almost two years. They come out of the drift, pull away, colors and images and thought flowing out and pooling back down into their respective minds.

Viktor wishes he could take some of it from Yuuri as the man shakes and sobs, clinging to Viktor.

Some time passes.

Eventually Yuuri's settled.

"I know it's not my fault. People think that's why it hurts. No, it just _hurts,_ " Yuuri says, his voice hoarse, sitting up straighter, wiping his face with the hem of his shirt.

Viktor realizes belatedly he's not saying anything. He's too shocked.

"... That wasn't too much was it," Yuuri says, looking down.

"No," Viktor says, finding his voice. _It was a fucking lot, that's for sure._ "I . . . see," is all he can manage. "I know what you mean."

Yuuri looks at him and gives him a radiantly sad smile, like that's the magic word, and what it means is what he's been needing to hear for months.

"Thanks," Yuuri says.

Somehow Viktor manages to initiate standing and putting the equipment back to rights and shutting down the whole thing. Before they exit, he asks Yuuri, "How did you walk the Tango all the way back to the coastline? . . . I would have . .. I don't think I could have done that, after."

"I had to save the Tango, what was left of her . . . of us . . . you just do it."

"You've always had good stamina," Viktor remarks wryly.

Yuuri gives a soft snort. "Um, do you mind if I just go . . ."

Viktor waves him off. "No, you rest or whatever you want."

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me. I'm your copilot now. Or, no, thank you, Yuuri."

They need to separate for a while, and Viktor feels he needs a rest, he needs to think. So that's what he does. He goes to his room and just thinks. Stares at the ceiling. Lets his mind wander. Contemplates being his own consciousness and nothing more for the time being. Wonders at what a pilot, what a Ranger Yuuri is. How fucking amazing that was, how he kept going, slayed the beast, made it out alive. From the outside, the Knifehead incident was seen as a scarring failure on the record of the Jaeger program. Now it's clear that Viktor's confidence has never been betrayed; the mission was due to the technological exhaustion, something that went wrong with the locator, something unpredictable about the alien enemies that happenstance worked out for the worst at that time and place. (As long as you don't fault them for the fishing boat rescue in the first place.) Not the pilots. Not their fault. Though a failure-though a tragedy- Viktor feels a little overwhelmed, now, second-guessing: can he be a good enough Ranger? Does he have that same fight, the same perseverance, the same spirit in him, as the one and only Katsuki Yuuri?

Maybe he can, only because Yuuri will be with him.


	17. Clearer Now

Tension builds over the next three days, four days, five, six, a week, a week and a half, with no Kaiju attack. There spreads an infectious unease around the shatterdome, tangible in the quietness with which things are done. JJ and Isabella even catch a two-day break to visit her side of the family in Calgary.

It's made concrete that Leo wants to drift test the new Tango pilots in, well, only half a week from now. Yuuri never puts it into words, but Viktor's had to ask him, look, do you want me to wake you up when you wake me up screaming in the night, and sometimes it seems very random when he'll have trouble taking a breath all of a sudden and Viktor has learned to coach him, breathe, Yuuri, breathe. Still, there's a defeated look on his copilot's face after these episodes which only seem to get worse and closer together; tell Leo, Viktor says, or Mari, get them to change medication. But Yuuri insists on the two weeks. Viktor's not convinced that everything will snap magically into place on that day, though.

8:00 a.m. and Rangers and staff alike are crowded at the doors of the Kwoon again, Leo and Yakov moderating, Viktor feeling suddenly like he belongs, sitting on the Rangers' side and talking with Emil about LOCCENT and wine (how long has it been since any of them had quality alcohol, or any alcohol for that matter). There's stretched a buffer, not unkind, between the Marshal and former General, and they haven't spoken much, which is for the best. The change relieves Viktor of more than just his former duties, and he's got to take the bad with the good, he figures, it takes a sacrifice, though he wish it wouldn't.

Yurio stalks onto one side of the mat, bo in hands, looking self-confident as ever. A stock of fresh-picked Academy faces await, corralled in one corner of the room by a couple techs, Yakov and Leo abreast at the center of the room.

It's just a cold, hard fact, but Viktor seriously doubts there will anyone to match Yurio in those faces. Viktor glances to Otabek, who's sitting on the lowest step, quiet as ever, fingertips pressed together in concentration. Viktor has a suspicion he's sure he'll see come to pass-well, right about now.

"Minami Kenjirou," Leo summons. a short, stocky cadet with a bright red streak in his hair steps up, bo in hand, letting out fierce yells and laying down an introductory set of moves against the air.

Yurio snorts. He has put his hair back in a messy french braid.

The match begins, Yurio easily overcoming the cadet for the first point. He uses typical combos and the agility Viktor expects.

Leo calls the match after Yurio takes the second point. There are many opponents to get through and not much time.

Yurio glances back at the Rangers watching. Otabek holds out a water bottle. Yurio shakes his head and turns back around, squaring off against the next cadet, who is a little more skilled, but she's driven off the mat too quickly and Yurio takes point. Still, Viktor thinks he sees her learning Yurio's style.

They face off again and she handily blocks his first combo advance (thwack, pivot, thwack, thwack) but then he feints and she falls for it and he plants his feet, arrests her with a drive of his staff, knocking her full backwards; an elegant twirl of the staff to her chest later and the second point is Yurio's.

That was, of course, Otabek's style, and well-imitated.

Yurio is given a minute respite and then onto the next. Fifteen possible copilots: Viktor isn't persuaded by half an hour later and the 8th opponent, a tall man with a pointed fauxhawk who lasts three rounds after taking first point. It's almost like Yurio's challenging anyone to match him, to speak his bo's language, as he flirts and switches between his quick combos, evasion, and the harder, lower-body based tactics he learned from Otabek. And that everyone else who hasn't been privy to their early morning sessions is probably thinking he must have learned this from Otabek. Well, he's a quick learner, Viktor will give him that, though maybe only in technical skills.

After a very well-placed flip sends his opponent onto his stomach, there's scattered applause. Viktor claps a couple times, glances at Yuuri, who's clapping too, almost blithely. He can tell there's no ill will there. Just as well, it allows Viktor to harbor enough for the both of them.

Leo calls a longer break at the half-hour mark.

"Some of those moves look familiar, eh?" JJ comments at Otabek, who just gives a stoic shrug.

"It's good but it's making it tough for the cadets," Mila says. She starts braiding strands of Sara's hair, who swats her away playfully.

"At least he'll get a good match," Yuuri ventures to say.

"No one's looking obvious at the moment," Viktor comments.

"Would you rather be on the other side?" Sara asks.

"No," Viktor says with quiet conviction, then turning to Yuuri, "no, of course not." He flashes Sara a beaming smile and drape himself across Yuuri's shoulders. "Now that I have a copilot, I can't imagine living without one!" he exclaims dramatically, catching the wondering attention of the cadets on the other side of the Kwoon.

"You haven't even piloted yet." Mila rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. Viktor feels like Yuuri's uncomfortable and just in the moment expected he pushes him off, gently, playful front.

"Actually not true. Viktor's, um, moved Jaegers around in the bay before, like ... I forget, maybe a couple centuries ago?" Emil comments, bouncing a knee. Rangers laugh. Not too long, because it's too sobering to remember Chris at that.

"I might be the oldest, but not by much," Viktor defends himself.

"Should rename the Tango something like the . . . the Artifact History," Yuuri says.

"The Archaeology Fossil," JJ adds.

"The Museum Arthritis," Mila says.

"The Grey Balding," Emil appends.

"Not that last one," Viktor mutters, and everyone laughs, even Yuuri. _Don't want to be too accurate about the hair._ There is a very good reason Viktor dyes his hair that faded grey jeans colour.

Sparring resumes and it's clear that Yurio's tiring, but he continues giving it. At the end of all the cadets, Viktor grimly thinks that either they'll have to settle or bring in the whole Academy to find someone. (Or talk sense into Yurio, _go back to your old style and stop mixing it up with the Kazakh's moves, dammit,_ but talking sense into the kid is something Viktor's sure no one wants to have a go at.)

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The first time in the field room is a bit rough. This is home turf to Viktor, where he's run up a deep bank of successful simulation runs; Yuuri's familiar, but not as much. Using the technology to defeat virtual enemies in virtual locations is not the hard part, though. Yuuri's a clean, cautious fighter, (that much Viktor knew, but the picture is clearer now), and Viktor strikes faster, sees different routes to the goal, some of which are dead ends and he doesn't know until he tries. They take it back to the sparring room, achieve the same magic, but it doesn't follow them back on the field at first. At first. Long hours sparring, more conversations, Viktor _makes sure he's there_ and tries his damn best to be his best, commit to the task, commit to his copilot.

Things improve quickly. Soon their records are at only 3 or 4 faults per session, and then 1 or nothing, an average for the other pilot pairs (although Emil and Otabek are a bit higher).

One week, three days from the last Kaiju attack and Viktor and Yuuri exit the field room in the afternoon, tag-teaming Mila and Sara waiting outside.

"Just warm enough, not too much sun," Viktor's telling Yuuri, his ideal weather conditions. Stems from a debate about whether they take Makkachin out today or not.

"What's too much sun?"

"If your back feels warm."

"Everyone likes warm sun. I like the warm sun. It's why I live on earth," Yuuri says. "You should move out."

Viktor smirks. "Maybe the weather's nicer through the Breach. I should vacation there."

Yuuri flaps his shirt away from his chest. "Speaking of through the Breach, isn't it a little odd that nothing's happened and there's no prediction from Minako, either?"

"I'm sure she's working on it, with the team Yakov put together," Viktor says noncomittally.

"Still, there should be some kind of guess as to when the Kaiju are coming through."

"Don't think Yakov wants to release anything prematurely. In case it's incorrect." Viktor glances down. They walk in silence. Viktor catches Yuuri biting his lip, like he wants to say something, but he doesn't. Viktor knows he can't ditch the truth of himself to make a more convincing case to Yuuri, because it's a lie to say that he absolutely has no care in the world for his old position. But as far as he's concerned, he _is_ a new man, and Yuuri's an integral part of that.

"Did Leo switch your medications?" Viktor asks.

"Yes," Yuuri bobbed his head. "Well, he suggested it and Mari seconded. The side effects aren't supposed to be that bad."

"I hope it works better," Viktor says.

"Me too," says Yuuri.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The uneventfulness is an event in itself, especially after everyone has been expecting an increase in Kaiju events.

Viktor's just bringing Makkachin back in through the bay door outside the helicopter pad, the large room mostly empty except for the large pieces of equipment, forklifts, carts, machines, parked everywhere. Leo's scheduled routine checks for Yuuri and this is one of those times. Viktor's just slinging his coat over his arm after giving Makkachin a treat when someone jumps out from behind a cart of tools at him. He jumps, but it's only Mari, who barks out a couple of laughs and then says, "Sorry, sorry. Hey, uh, Genera- I mean Viktor, dammit, can I . . . uh, ask you something?" She's wearing a light black jacket, headband keeping her mop of hair away from her face as usual, worn converse, no makeup, also as usual.

"Sure," Viktor says, as they begin to make their way to the shatterdome entrance across the long sheltered bay.

"So, hypothetically, if you were still General-"

"Which I'm not."

"-would you or would you not be interested in considering my Kaiju drift experiment?"

"I thought it already happened."

"Psh, you still talk like a General. I mean take two. Would you?"

Viktor inhales. "In a word, yes."

Mari pumps her fist and does a little jump. "I knew it, yes!"

"But I'm not General, you keep forgetting." Makkachin woofs and Viktor hands the leash to Mari who takes it gladly; he tromps along happily beside her.

"But you still know General things," Mari says slimily.

Viktor pulls his mouth to the side. "With things sitting as they are now, I don't think any 'General things' are necessary. That yes was a yes in the right circumstances. Probably closer to life-and-death than this standstill now."

"But what if things _do_ get bad? It's not gonna be snap your fingers and a Kaiju brain appears, is it? Or, is it?!" Mari exclaims.

"No, you're right," Viktor says. He sighs. "Look, I really can't help you. Not now."

"Fiiiiine." Mari drags her feet. They're almost to the exit. "Damn, I'm so bored just comparing the Mutavore's signature all day. All day long. It's terrible. And without Minako. I'm gonna need Leo soon. I'm going stir-crazy. Um, Viktor?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for, uh, like, making sure Yuuri's OK."

Viktor gives her the oddest smile, because he's supressing it, he's trying not to beam, oh no, _now's not the time to let your cheeks get red_. "Nothing else for your brother," he says.

Mari bobs her head. She's about to pass the leash back to Viktor, but asks if she can take Makkachin to the K with her, promising not to feed her anything illicit. Viktor agrees.

Back inside the shatterdome, Viktor's phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls it out, reads the notification.

_Numericals_

_New prediction released_

It's very precise, a double event supposed to happen in 4 days, one a category four (which they haven't seen yet) and the other a category three. Yakov assigns the Phoenix, Cherno Alpha and Chrome Brutus to the task, which is what Viktor would have done as well, if he were General. In four days is also the 2-week mark when Viktor and Yuuri get re-assessed in the drift.

Viktor feels them getting closer, he and his copilot, but there's still a barrier to be overcome, a catalyst that hasn't entered the picture, and it looks like it'll be the next Breach opening, not this one. Yuuri's not avoidant, but he's not exactly open, and Viktor's learning patience, so it's just as well. It eases Viktor's heart to sleep through the night, and to not find Yuuri suffering from side effects as much. Maybe the new medications are working, and the final testing will go without a hitch.

A shortlist of copilots is made for Yurio, but as Viktor passes the LOCCENT break room one afternoon, delivering something to Emil, he sees Yakov and Yurio in there by themselves, talking. All he catches is "none of them!" from Yurio and "You'll get in a Jaeger, Yurochka, with the best," from Yakov, and it doesn't really make him feel better, so he doesn't stay to eavesdrop.

When Viktor drops by the K in the evening to retrieve Makkachin, Mari's definitely not doing any work (browsing some internet forum on her projection screen) and Minako's on one of the spinning stools on her former side of the room, which has now been partially reclaimed by the remnants of Mari's experiment. The mathematician's long hair is down, pumps sitting on the floor and hosed feet swinging back and forth as she sits on her perch in a dark plum business-casual dress and grey jacket, a dark bottle of some kind of alcohol in her hand.

Makkachin barks and runs over to Viktor at his entrance, startling Mari and drawing the lazy attention of Minako.

"Oh, Viktor! Damn, sorry, I forgot, I meant to drop Makka off earlier," Mari apologizes, glancing at Minako, who's already starting saying,

"General-Viktor-General, just the person I need to save me from numericals." Viktor notices two empty bottles on the ledge of the chalkboard. She's tipsy, but not red-in-the-face drunk.

"It must be working fine to get the prediction out today," Viktor contradicts her.

"Dear God, Viktor, it's not _fine_ at all, likeItoldyou their algorithm is only as good . . . as good as _I_ made it and I _dare say_ there will be a triple ev," she says, her last word cut off by taking a drink. OK, so a little more drunk than previously thought.

"She's a lightweight," Mari mouths at Viktor.

"Well, have a good night," Viktor says, cut off again by Minako:

"And I _do_ miss the K, Viktor, and dear Mari misses me, right?" She makes an attempt at dismounting her stool, pulls it off successfully, notices her pumps on the floor and starts to juggle the task of holding her drink and putting her heels back on.

"Right." Mari rolls her eyes (affectionately).

Viktor makes a kiss to Makkachin, who comes along obediently.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The atmosphere is tense but calm at 8:47 p.m. on the predicted day of the breach opening, which has, according to prediction, opened. Viktor's down in the shatterdome, in the small crowd seeing the Jaegers off; he can't help but think of LOCCENT above, looking down, Yakov, looking down. And Viktor doesn't look up. He knows the technical staff feel lukewarm towards him; especially since this double event has shown an improvement compared to last prediction. He'd much rather be where he is right now.

JJ and Isabella have come out of the drivesuit room, prepped early, white-red-grey suits gleaming, helmets cradled in the crooks of their elbows, chrome accents shining. Follwing them, Mila and Sara, the bleak grey-green palette of the Cherno's drivesuits signaling they're down to business. Triplets of rivets dot the shoulderguards; helmets with enhanced visors are one of the perks to piloting the Cherno. Lastly, Emil and Otabek, drivesuits hosting the darkest colors, white emblem of the Phoenix stark on breastplates and shoulderguards.

Mila and Sara leave for the ConnPod of their Jaeger first as the announcement orders; the remaining pilots talk; Viktor, Yuuri, some of Emil's friends from all areas, Yurio's explaining his possible copilot candidates to Otabek (are they friends? Viktor is still incredulous).

"What do I say? What do Rangers say to each other before a mission?" Viktor jokingly asks JJ.

"Good luck's fine," JJ laughs. Viktor follows his line of sight to Isabella, who's talking with Mila, retraces the path, finds the certain sparkle in JJ's eyes. The Chrome Brutus pilot almost suddenly turns so his back is to his fiance, grins at Viktor, pulls something out of one of the compartments in the side of the drivesuit normally reserved for spare comm sets. Shows Viktor the precious thing surreptitiously. It's an, it's _the,_ wedding ring, a simple white-gold band with a sapphire or some other blue precious gem cut beautifully square and set in the middle.

"Ever since we decided the date after the breach closes, it's kind of made itself to a good luck charm," JJ says. "Worked on the last mission in the fall, eh?" He replaces the ring.

"Don't forget it there," Viktor snorts. "Or you could say your vows in the ConnPod."

"Deck it out in roses," JJ says, spreading his arms up to mimic the boughs of decorations, then suddenly becomes self-aware, drops his posture, turns back and gives Isabella a happy smile.

"Well, good luck," says Viktor.

"Category four," JJ agrees with a raise of one eyebrow.

"Three on two," Viktor counters.

JJ nods quickly, gives a thumbs up.

Then it's time for all the Rangers to get ready.

Seeing the shatterdome open up and the Jaegers be hoisted out by swarms of helicopters from ground level is awe-inspiring. Maybe everyone else is used to it, but Viktor lingers as the night sky streaked with clouds billows open above and the mammoth metal warriors light up, blaze, move out under cabled guides.

He's certain he's alone but when the Chrome Brutus has left the dock, taking up the rear, and he turns, Yuuri is silently standing a few meters back, giving him a smile. Viktor's sure he must seem like a fresh cadet. As General, he always has had to be in LOCCENT when the Jaegers depart. Now look at him, gazing at what may seem so commonplace to Yuuri.

"We usually watch in the lounge," Yuuri says as Viktor joins him.

They head to that location, a very sparse and open space mostly just used for watching missions and taking conference calls via the projection screen across one wall. Mari is there, leaning against the railing to the hall below, and Yurio as well, phone in hands, but attention on the screen, which is only footage of the Jaegers making their way to the intercept point. The kid gives the two pilots a glance and that's it; Mari waves them over. She's fiddling with the end of her tie.

"Wish you were out there?" she asks no one in particular.

"Not really. Leo's going to do the final testing today," Yuuri answers. Viktor sees Yurio giving Yuuri the stinkeye from behind the long fringe of blond hair he's left hanging in front of his face.

Mari takes her headband off and puts it on again, wrangling the thing over her head and pushing it back up. "Hope this category four isn't a problem," she says.

Viktor's turned his attention to the screen, comfortable with Yuuri beside him, when he receives a poke from that side. Yuuri says,

"You look just like General, your elbow in your hand and the little chin rest." He imitates Viktor's posture.

Viktor grins and snorts. "Well, how am I supposed to watch the mission?"

"Like a normal person. Just watch. I mean, you're not responsible for any decisions now." Yuuri just leans back casually against the railing.

 _What am I supposed to do with my hands, then,_ Viktor imagines saying, then putting his hand in Yuuri's, fingers sliding against his knuckles, the warmth and pulse, the solemn strength underneath. Imagination. He's looking at the ground by Yuuri's feet. Pulls his gaze back to the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NB the way i write things is very stop start, im sorry but usually I go 0 -100 real fast


	18. We're Going to Win

The Miracle Mile's not close enough for Otachi; it's been told to make land; but it'll oblige to remove any obstacles before it does so, just to make sure.

  
The alien beast is close to cocky, proud of its power, you might say. Perhaps it's been bred so. It has no clue that it's received the honor of first-ever category IV, but lives up to the standard anyways.

  
It's all muscle and agility without extra mass. Bony plates of protection line its spine all the way down to the tail, almost as long again as its body. They stack up to the twin curved crests harboring its eye sockets. Forelegs seem unnaturally long compared to the hind but they splay into long, relatively deft digits; flexibly it swims through the water and easily breaches the waves, target in sight and soon in hand.

  
The Yamarashi would seem like a mere pup beside this beast. The Otachi's the second edition, new and improved, a better mental match for metal, too.  
But the Cherno, with its odd, curved helm sitting heavily and bulkily on its shoulders, is a tough opponent. The Jaeger has childish proportions blown up to matching scale; its helm is almost a third of its height, but that's because its Rangers are sealed deep in its heart, not its head. Otachi's presented with the issue of such protection. It attempts to knock the Jaeger over at first, as the Cherno hammers punches and Otachi squirms to evade, but soon realizes this isn't going to work very well. The Kaiju coils back and headbutts Cherno in the shoulder, leans into the momentum and whips its tail around to lock around its arm, restraining one blocky Z-14 Tesla fist. However, the other fist has been neglected and the Cherno gets off a quaking, boosted nickel-roll shot into Otachi's flank. Otachi lets out a cross between a yowl and a scream, diving back into the water, releasing its tailhold on the Jaeger, and resurfacing just as soon to catch the Cherno in a hold from behind, tail quickly noosing around the Cherno's waist.

  
Fierce pincers tough as diamond on the end of the Otachi's tail begin to work, stabbing at the Cherno's armour, a mad vipering force eager to puncture through to its vitals. The Jaeger lumbers back, then twists its arms upward to wrestle out of the hold. Its fists briefly charge blue and then let loose a current that short-circuits through the Otachi, stunning the monster for a moment which the Cherno uses to swing around and land a solid hit on the side of the Otachi's head.  
One of its head crests snaps off.

  
This angers it much more than just a clean body blow. It's quicker, it's faster than the Cherno, and it's the time to use the advantage. Flipping itself off and around, it latches onto the Cherno's lower body structure with its tail, ducks under another punch, unlatches its second jaw and ejects a stream of bright blue liquid from its throat.

  
The volley piles up on the Cherno's helm, but no sooner than it lands does the substance begin eating away the Jaeger's armor like hot water melting bits of ice left in the sink. Otachi has a moment to be smug before it's hoisted from below--the Jaeger's strong arms set a metal grip around its underbelly and haul it up, fling it away, not without effort, but without much challenge. The Otachi lands with a colossal splash back in the waves, spirals down, jets back up. Unfortunately, it has no time to relish the damage it's done, as the Cherno's at a loss, near beheaded, because even as it breaches the waves to admire its work, stinging impacts pepper it from behind. Another metal opponent to deal with.

  
Standing tall and confident, the Phoenix Fist opens fire with its chest launcher of K-Stunners. The missiles are known to take down Kaiju easily upon landing direct hits. But the Otachi trusts its back armor, and, though damaged, is nowhere near done. Simply it dives back under, circles around, goes to fight this new threat.  
Expecting an easier path to tearing its foe apart, the Otachi takes the Phoenix full on, taloned forelegs grasping for a hold and lethal tail snaking to its chest. The Jaeger ejects its sting blades, stabbing at the Otachi, who ravels the offending wrist up with its tail just in time, twin thermal knives white-hot and steaming in the wet environment. That limb at bay, Otachi opens its maw and goes for the other arm, snapping at the elbow, but the Phoenix pulls it back by its tail and punches Otachi in the throat.

  
The onslaught from the new foe comes too quickly and Otachi's soon put on the defensive. So good thing Leatherback's coming on-scene.  
The two Kaiju couldn't be much more different; the Leatherback's a lumbering bulk, a tiny head, stubby tentacled crests and thick, deeply folded skin, stubby tail. Light, faint blue markings squiggle up and down its otherwise charcoal-black hide. You wouldn't think this creature is much of a fight; it even _looks_ stupider than the Otachi.

  
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

  
"Look! Look, it's a four! I thought one was a category III, prediction's wrong again," Mari's yelling, pointing at the raw LOCCENT feed rolling text beside the live feed, even as it comes through the audio. The small audience is at attention, no longer relaxing at the back of the room. Frustration on everyone's faces as the Phoenix's Sting-Blades are held at length by the Otachi's dexterity of arms and limbs.

  
"Kaiju signature approaching," LOCCENT says.

  
"Loccent! Cherno's down, Phoenix's gonna be in trouble soon! We're moving in!" JJ's voice cuts in.

  
"You are to hold your ground. Do not engage. Do you copy?" comes Yakov's swift reply. Viktor bites his lip.

  
"We can't just sit here!" Isabella comes on the comm.

  
"Loccent, we're moving in, now!" JJ follows.

  
The camera moves back to where the Chrome Brutus is moving from its proper position, but then quickly swipes to the new Kaiju on scene.

  
"It's not attacking," Viktor exclaims as the bulky blur on their screen stays a good hundred meters out from where the Phoenix Fist is grappling with the Otachi. but then there's a series of radial blasts, white fizzling ripples that reduce the quality of the feed to just grainy texture, sourced from where the Leatherback's stopped.

  
"What?! What was that?!" Mari shouts, jumping up and down a little. The view from the feed swoops into chaos for tense moments then it refocuses on the Hong Kong skyline -- which is quickly flicking off, the bright lights shutting down in a pitter-patter wave. "Oh damn!! Damn!! Show us the Phoenix! Show us the Phoenix!" Mari demands of whoever is operating the camera, but too soon, there's a thick sound through the building, pitch descending; the screen goes dark, audio from the comms cuts, main lights turn off.

  
The little group of spectators freezes for a moment.

  
"The Phoenix is digital," Viktor says very tightly. They break off unanimously at a jog for LOCCENT.

  
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The Phoenix draws to a standstill and now is shaken, assaulted mercilessly by the Otachi; its pilots stumble in confusion out of the drift that's suddenly gone, yelling at each other, falling as they try to dismount in the quaking. The Kaiju finds this is not much of a fun challenge as it was when the metal monster was live and gives the Leatherback a beastly stare, as if to say, what was that for? Nevertheless, it fractures the helm with a stab from its tail pincer, jabbing into the ConnPod, to prove a point.

  
The Leatherback turns to see the Chrome Brutus halted mid-rush, and then turns back, continuining on its trajectory towards the coast, following the Otachi which is done playing with its prey. However, the injured Phoenix tempts a dull gloat from the Leatherback, which pauses to draw itself up and stare at the dismantled ConnPod. The Kaiju's frills pulse and stretch as it experiences what muddled feeling of satisfaction it's able to; and then an explosive pain sears through one of its eyes. Tiny figures it failed to detect have struggled up and are defiantly launching rockets at its face. The Leatherback doesn't quite grasp the fact that given the relative size of its face and the rockets, dodging is not an option, so rather dully takes the blows, bellowing in pain before something pronged stabs into its back and retracts, pulling it along with it.

  
The Chrome Brutus was only momentarily slowed by the EMR wave from the Leatherback, delayed just by the time it took to amp up the analog backup power. It's got round shoulders and chest and protractable gauntlets in the shape of sharp and dangerous rotating prongs, one set of which is deep embedded in the Leatherback's hide. It delivers a few good kicks to the bulky alien's underside before the sheer mass of the Kaiju allows it to fall free. Incensed, the Leatherback swings a weighty fist at the Chrome's knees, smashing the Jaeger off-balance. The Chrome's triple jets on its back activate, providing antegrade momentum to keep it above the waves, and it bends under another massive but slow swing from the Leatherback.

  
Maybe the Leatherback feels like its plan is working as it punches on, butting forward, willing to test its armor and run the fray half-blind, but maybe it also disregards the Chrome's replaced gauntlets which start to whir and spark, building a lethal charge.

  
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LOCCENT's a vibrant chaos. Techs scramble to get the essential systems back online with the backup generators; they've connected up communcation with the Chrome Brutus, but that's about it so far.

  
"45% backup power on the Chrome, sir!" comes the first update as systems relaunch, and,

  
"They're trying to get a full charge off!", and,

  
"They don't have power for a full charge! The YZ4 reactor's not made--"

  
"Chrome Brutus, do you copy? You're losing power!" Yakov says into the mic. It's not clear if the thing's working.

  
"36%!" 

  
"Otachi's almost past the Miracle Mile, sir!", as tracking data comes back online.

  
"Cherno, do you copy? Cherno? Cherno, do you _copy_?", but that's not online yet.

  
"32%!"

  
"Chrome Brutus, _get the shot in now_ ," Yakov's voice thunders as he shouts into the mic.

  
" -- doesn't go down, then it's both of us," cuts int JJ's voice, almost indecipherable back from the Chrome.

  
Viktor, Yuuri, Yurio, and Mari burst onto the scene, unnoticed in the rush of techs everywhere, control panels suddenly criscrossed with wires and people crawling under desks and chairs, others with carts and connections trying madly to find the right ports. Minako's busy with a manual by her side, she and others working to unscrew a panel.

  
But in a few split seconds Guang-Hong notices them, makes eye contact with Viktor. The Chinese man gives Yakov a few pets/slaps on the shoulder and gestures at the pilots. Yakov almost does a double take and the look he gives Viktor is too fast and impersonal and necessary to be anything at all. Some other people notice; Minako does, and she immediately jumps up, pointing, exclaiming,

  
"Get them out of here! The Tango! The Tango's analog!",

  
and Yakov's already commanding,

  
"Leatherback's first priority, Otachi second", and Viktor -- well, Viktor was expecting a much different scenario for final testing today.

  
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

  
Good thing the drivesuit was ready early. Viktor hasn't been this excited (and what's this other tight feeling gathering in his shoulders, shaking out through his arms, is he nervous?) in who knows how long. They're fitted in the drivesuit room quickly and accurately, the spinal interfaces snapped into place; no farewell party to see them off. Instead, the prep room ejects them straight down into the waiting Tango's ConnPod.

  
Viktor motions for Yuuri to take the right hemisphere. Yuuri shakes his head.

  
"Viktor, what if--"

  
Viktor just gives him a push towards that spot. "This is my first time ever fighting a Kaiju, and it's two, and they're category IV. You're the lead here," he says.  
They get docked, hook up their supplies to all the right ports on their suits as fast as they can; comms systems come online, helmets on, the cool shield of neurogel flooding into the drift-enabled suit. Displays light up in blue, green, red, superimposed on Viktor's field of vision and Guang-Hong's voice in his ear counts down to the drift initiation.

  
Viktor looks at Yuuri, who he can tell is very nervous, who's staring ahead with half-closed eyes, looking like he's trying to keep his breathing in pace.

  
"Yuuri, we're going to win," he says, and his copilot looks at him and musters a smile, and then Viktor's sucked into the tunneling confusion of the drift.


	19. Fight and Flight

The drift's at a whole new level as the Tango charges through the waves off the Miracle Mile. Viktor's flooded with excitement, enthusiasm, and it spills over into the shared consciousness; his arms are the Tango's, he sees what she sees, he'll feel what she feels soon enough. There's a thrill to good to be true to feel himself in sync with Yuuri, as they go, _left right left right_ , and it feels natural, the thrum of the machine alive around him, his headspace ascended to two worlds of awareness.

  
This is what he's been waiting for all of his life.

  
Even as they rush with now boundless energy towards the scene of the fight; there's a brief spinning flash from the Chrome's gauntlets as it lets off a charge, but hard to tell if it worked or not, and then they're close enough to see the tide's turned. The blast sucked all the power out of the Jaeger and it, too, falls still, still and brittle as a statue, and Yuuri and Viktor pivot to a halt, line up the mortar cannon, steady ready _fire._

  
As the Leatherback hurls a crushing blow with one of its huge, knobbly-armored fists straight to the Chrome's chest, sending broken shards and lumps of the Jaeger's frame flying out, it's simultaneously hit with the hell-red projectile from behind. The searing ball of energy goes to yellow and the ocean steams, the Leatherback turns, throwing a fit.

  
Viktor and Yuuri let out a yell in unison as the Tango draws close, winds up, fist at the ready, uppercut. They throw the Jaeger's head back, impact juddering, other fist into its chest, not so protected as its back. Yuuri's charging the energycaster; it's at three moduli; " _kaiju's missing an arm, thanks to the Chrome, let's hit it"_ , and they release the white-blue plasma square into its chest. Eaten from back and front by the Tango's deadly weapons, the Leatherback's burned through, reducing to a carcass, toppling back down into the waves -- with the Chrome. The Jaeger's all but disappeared, some debris an ugly decoration on the waves, but metal sinks fast. " _No time, yeah, the helicopters will pick up their escape pods"_ , and the Tango fresh off the victory juts forward again, its run becoming freer as the waves get shallower and it nears its next foe.

 

The pilots ride a high, and the drift burns with the certainty that indeed they can do this, they'll show the Otachi who's who.

  
Soon they make land, buildings gone mostly dark, except for the odd scraper that has backup power; at least the remaining Kaiju seems to have a glowing, bulbous mass in its throat (" _gotta watch out, that's the acid it spits there, probably"_ ) and is easily trackable.

  
The Tango's good in this terrain, nimble enough to make it seem like it's just a human navigating among a maze of boxes blown up to macroscale, not a sluggish beast carelessly crushing all in its path. They step over a pedway. Downside of this field is that using the mortar cannons is out of the question, unless completely necessary.

  
A tense bit of hide-and-seek play and then the Tango finds its remaining foe, going face-to-face. Nimbly it dodges a spitting stream of blue from the Otachi's bottom jaw, which makes quick work of the skyscraper behind the Jaeger, melting a good six or seven floors like ice to water from the top corner down. There's no space to charge the energycaster yet; the Otachi lunges with its jaws sideways and rushes the Tango with unexpected force, pinning it against the side of a building. The Tango yanks its arms up and props the Otachi's jaws open at a safe length, but the alien only slams its dexterous talons to fix the Jaeger in place, then drags it along the glass, metal and concrete fronts of the towering aparments. Infrastructure shreds; Viktor's vision's filled with chaos and debris, but together he and Yuuri torque the Otachi's jaws away, pivot around, just as the Kaiju's tail seeks to get a strangling hold and succeeds in doing so, around one arm.

  
Buildings are beginning to light up again; the Otachi yowls gratingly and pushes its new-found advantage, having tied up its agile opponent. Pincers snap at the Tango's helm. The energycaster's charging and taking too long. They plow through a pedway, some low-level storefronts, cars bounce and skitter aside like pills or pebbles. " _this is taking too long; get the coolant; where's it?; on the left side_ " and Viktor does as Yuuri shows him in the drift. Liquid nitrogen _fssssssssssssshes_ out of of ports on the Tango's flank. The desperately voracious pincers freeze up, become brittle. The Tango's pilots flex that arm and the tail fractures into cold flesh, earning a vocal response from the Kaiju. " _let's get the acid out of the way,"_ so Yuuri unsheathes the chain sword from his side of the Tango. Links sashay and snap into place, a gleaming, riveted, good old traditional slicer and dicer. Best part is it's not your regular iron sword and should be impervious to the Kaiju spit's charms.

  
Otachi makes the mistake of opening its maw wide to scream its frustration straight at the Tango and Viktor and Yuuri lunge in, downwards strike, feeling the resistance as they puncture the tongue, give it extra push, feel the lower jaws yield. The Otachi's pinned to the concrete, the Tango's pilots yell in exertion and their machine bends to their will, all muscle, all sweat.

  
Kaiju writhes, ferociously slaps and claws at the Tango which is in dangerously close range. As the Jaeger withdraws its sword, needing space, the Otachi leaps on it, knocking them over, and digs its back claws like cages around the Tango's torso. Vertigo rules Viktor for a moment and there's a force that pushes his insides against his spine as the Otachi explosively releases hidden wing membranes from along its forearms, screeching at the sky, takes off.

  
Simulations didn't have this.

  
_"holy fuck it flies"_ or something like that comes out of Viktor in the drift and they're both stunned together.

  
The Kaiju dips down and drags its passenger-by-force heavily through dockside structures, even as the pilots struggle to get a grip on the Otachi's legs, about the only thing there is to grip. Desperately they stab upwards with the sword but a sudden manouever from the alien swings the attack off-target; they retract the sword in favor of steadying themselves on the Kaiju's lurching frame.

  
The alien's gaining altitude at an alarming rate. Red goes up in Viktor's vision. Jaegers, the one thing they've never been designed for, is aerial combat. Last thing you think of with ocean-based aliens who have never had any aviation skills, until now.

  
" _oxygen's low, should we_ ," this, that the other thing, a flurry of thoughts and lightning-fast adjudications in the conversation, ignoring LOCCENT, " _can you hold on,_ _yes, yes I can, OK_ ", and Viktor's suddenly strained with the full burden of the task of trying to keep 2300 tons stable relative to 2700 tons of beast flapping through the air in a very ungainly manner. Effort burns his mind blank, except for the basal awareness; the sword arm, free, snaps the weapon back out into position.

  
_"NOW!"_

  
Magnificently, elegantly, powerfully, Yuuri shouts with exertion as he swings their sword up and around in an arc, meeting first the Otachi's head, splitting it in half, continuining to rip it down the length of the alien's body.

  
It works, and then they're rejoining into sync, and freefalling.

  
LOCCENT'S yelling in at them, giving them a countdown, 50,000 feet. Yakov comes on.

  
"Loosen all the shock absorbers, use your gyroscope as balance and ball up!"

  
The pilots understand.

  
"What altitude?" Viktor shouts back. G-forces have slammed his insides back up against his spine again and his connection to the machine is the only thing keeping him in place.

  
"Wait! Wait! . . . 20,000, now!" Guang-Hong yells shrilly over the Comm. Yuuri lunges forward, triggers the fuel purge button. The pilots slam the other way as the Tango's reactor core blasts downwards, acceleration switches, but it's crude and they're soon falling again, the city coming clearer into focus, Viktor's heart's racing, the drift's a stretched blur like they're moving too fast for thoughts to keep up.

  
_"Brace for it!_ "

  
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

  
Viktor finds himself standing back up. The machine groans along. The pilots almost trip but the Tango rises from the wreckage of dust and turf and plastic seats and concrete (landed in a stadium apparently). As the Tango comes to a well-deserved standstill, its pilots shake the last threads of the drift off. Viktor unhooks himself from the oxygen and neural connections; he removes his helmet, staggers out of the footholds, and finds Yuuri's done the same.

  
His mind's still tingling from the intensity of the drift, he's still buzzing with adrenaline and now something else: victory. He opens his arms and grins at Yuuri, who's beaming, who takes steps to him and returns the embrace, tight and genuine. They're laughing, Yuuri's really laughing, and Viktor knows it's all worth it to have him this close right now.

  
"We--we--That was the Tango again, right there," Yuuri pants at last, separating himself from his copilot. Viktor's too happy to say anything. "I didn't think I could do it, again," Yuuri says in a blurt. "I mean-- _we_ did it, but--"

  
"Shh, I know, of course you could, I never doubted," Viktor says, "that was some nice swordwork."

  
Yuuri pulls a face. "It's always the flashy moves that get the press, but you're the one who hung on to the Kaiju."

  
The joy quiets but doesn't dilute. Lights sweep the ConnPod, coming through the helm, undamaged, from helicopters outside.

  
"Your smile is like a heart, a heart shape," Yuuri says almost matter-of-factly, with a belated laugh, as the hatch opens, transport ready to bring them back to the shatterdome.

  
Viktor half-consciously raises his hand to his mouth and lowers it, staring after Yuuri as he climbs up and out the profferred ladder first. (Jaegers are usually cable-hoisted back to the shatterdome, when time's not of the essence; it's cheaper in the long run.) Now's not the time to be admiring his copilot's ass, but seems like that's the order of events, and Viktor follows close on Yuuri's heels.

  
_"Everyone always likes you back,"_ Chris' words echo, and Viktor thinks, well, maybe they're finally getting there.

  
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

  
**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M**

  
_Can this helicopter go any faster?! En route to where the Kaiju carcass has crashed landed, in the shopping district by the looks of it. Maybe I can get a shot at another drift, maybe there's still enough juice left in its brain. And maybe Yakov won't kill me. Damn, I'm shaking. But hey, I really really think -- call me crazy, but -- this is important, and no one who hasn't done it won't believe me. We need to know more, and I'm going to find out. At least I can shoot straight. I think._

  
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

  
Jubliation's strong and short lived. Viktor's still caught up in the flow of praise, cheers as they re-enter the shatterdome, thronged by nearly all the staff and Rangers, but Viktor looks at Yuuri who's gotten quiet and wonders what's the matter; he turns around and Yakov's come down along with Guang-Hong. Awkwardly Viktor's the last one to pull the smile off his face and swap it for something more serious, but all his General charms seem to have been clipped off the edges of his personality by what just fucking happened.

 

"There's no time to celebrate," Yakov announces, everyone quieting to let the Marshal speak. "I regret to say we've lost the Chrome Brutus' crew."

  
Murmurs and exclamations ripple through the crowd. Viktor's ears refuse to hear the statement, then hear it all too suddenly. "What?" he says. _What? No, they must have ejected in the--_

  
"The Leatherback damaged its hydraulic systems. . . ejection failed," Guang Hong says, looking down.

  
"No," escapes Viktor in not more than a whisper. The white-gold ring with the sapphire set in the middle. _No. Fuck, why?_ And of course they couldn't have done anything about that, it's not an option, don't go there.

  
"As well, Emil Nekola has been sent to medical for what seems to be a broken arm. He will be unable to pilot for some weeks," Yakov continues. "The Cherno's heavily damaged. We have work to do. Reset the clock!"

  
Some tech flips the war clock back to zero and it starts flicking up, counting up till whenever the next attack comes.

  
Somehow after getting out of drivesuits and having showers and going through the post-mission medical Viktor and Yuuri find themselves in the lounge area with Mila and Otabek. Yurio's nowhere to be seen.

  
Nobody says anything for a bit.

  
"Sara's still in medical?" Viktor asks Mila, who nods.

  
"You were great," Mila states, saying it to Viktor and Yuuri. But of course it's secondary to the unspoken fact.

  
Viktor's slouched against a wall but suddenly stands and kicks the concrete. "He was going to marry her! _FUCK!_ God . . . I . . . " He exhales forcefully. " . . . We keep going, I know, no time to grieve," he says and turns, leaves, he's going to go get Makkachin from her kennel. The clusterfuck of emotions inside him is quite unfamiliar and there's no direction, yet the ties he's cut from his old job still bind him as ghosts, still make him think of the bodies of his Rangers (his Rangers, that's the General talking) and their waterlogged, cold carcasses in the deep, the ring safely stored in JJ's drivesuit, _don't forget it there._

  
iiiiiiiiiiiii

  
**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M**

  
_OK, I didn't know kaiju harvesting was this big of business; I'm still a few blocks away but -- gah -- there's no way I can get past these tattooed patrols, and also I didn't know normal civilians could just buy guns that big! -- but they're probably not your average citizen -- unless I can jump onto the ATVs going in and out, which I could, but without my pons system . . . Unless I can find one and hide all this stuff in it and . . . haha, OK, that's the plan then._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> might be a bit slow cause finals coming up, warning.  
> i live for comments, as always!


	20. Bored no More

Viktor's making stormy laps around the basement bunker level with Makkachin, unsure of exactly what to feel, wanting to sleep but certainly unable to, when Yuuri comes running down the stairs, breathless.

"Mari's not in the K, and her cell is gone, and the garbage machine she made," his copilot says. He holds up his phone. "She's not answering either. Her phone is off."

"Where would - oh, you don't think she's gone to the mainland-"

"She's probably after the Otachi carcass!"

"Shit!" Viktor remembers their conversation in the bay; maybe he should have agreed to collaborate with her, if only to be privvy to her plans. "OK, we can send someone - we can -"

"You know her, she won't turn around, and she'll get in big trouble, unless it works," Yuuri says.

Viktor bites his lip. There's no way they or anyone should go after her, go with her. For reasons only the former General knows. There's secret pacts between the Jaeger program and the groups that deal in Kaiju parts, pacts that if breached would sell the world over to the aliens for sure, if only caused by division in the system that currently works in the background.

But Yuuri looks so worried.

"She's there alone! Can't we do something? If we tell Yakov-"

Viktor knows as well as Yuuri knows that telling Yakov cuts the chances of Mari getting out with any remaining freedom in her role in the Jaeger program. "It'll just put us in danger too, Yuuri-"

"We just were! We made it out fine! Enough deaths today, yes, I agree!"

Viktor's not being selfish. He's being rational. He's the voice of reason. This is how he's trained to respond, and rightly so. At least, how he's _been_ trained.

"I can sort of fly a helicopter," Yuuri says, pleading, almost.

"I'm better," Viktor says.

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"We're just going to find her and shadow her, that's it," Viktor says. Yuuri nods beside him. They've dressed down in dark colors, grabbed weapons - a submachine gun for Viktor, the new PPDC model Tachyon-9 which has a heavy magazine system in the triangular pistol grip, Yuuri preferring just a SCK 9mm. They landed on the docks and grabbed bikes from the PPDC lockshed, credentials gaining them access, sped through the streets, lit up anew and full of people rushing to find other people, news reporter and cameras, cleanup crews already assessing the urban damage. Now they're nearing the radius of the Kaiju carcass, marked by a general shift of people walking away and not with them, and soon the heralding presence of individuals holding weapons, holding positions or strolling slowly, clearly holding a perimeter.

"Still not answering," Yuuri says, shaking his head and stuffing his phone back in his pocket. They've dismounted the bikes, leaving them in a sheltered spot under the brightly dotted overhang of a donut shop. Viktor's pulled on his hood; he'll be recognized for sure with his silvery hair drawing attention. They stroll across a couple of streets, industrial noises and rhythmic chatter emanating from within the perimeter; vehicles are permitted exit and entrance; there's an overall glow of lights from where the Kaiju's carcass is definitely being prepped for harvesting by the black market groups's Viktor's dealt with at arm's length.

Yuuri cuts a fine figure in the dark windbreaker, silver lines down the sleeves, boots, thick tight sweats made for motion, hand ready to hover at the pistol docked at his hip. They're both good shots, as Rangers, they have to be, and they practice in the simulation room regularly. Here's to hoping they have no opportunity to prove it.

They make it halfway around the perimeter, unnoticed so far but no sign of Mari (which might be a good thing). Stopping around the corner of a building and stepping around debris from the impact, Viktor wishes Mari was a Ranger so her cell was trackable.

"You can't track her cell, can you?" Yuuri says just as Viktor's thinking.

"No, only Rangers," Viktor says. "She's not supposed to be in the field."

"Do we keep making rounds?"

Viktor nods. "Just keep an ear out for any trouble." He exhales. They should return soon before anyone notices there are two copters missing.

The tension drops as they successfully complete one walk of the perimeter, taking any opportunity to strain and see what's going on, looking not-too-curiously at the vehicles that enter and exit; one, at least, is a rough trolley with masked people holding down rickety containers with Kaiju parasites, live. The noise of work, not human voices, dominates the atmosphere. Stench from the Kaiju wafts, the unmistakable odour of Kaiju blue mixed with dead alien flesh. That aroma means money for everyone here.

"You know, it was a bit of work to track you after you changed your phone from before," Viktor says to Yuuri in a low tone.

Yuuri shrugs. "Not too hard for you, apparently."

That makes Viktor smile.

Then there's some commotion; with boldness the pair acts like they're part of the armed guard and strolls in closer; the attention's turned away from them and toward the Kaiju carcass now, shielding their cover.

A still throe of bones and flesh and _blue_ is the Otachi carcass; there's its fluids and blood slicking the stadium and parking lot concrete/grass, from where it fell on a wide swatch of bleachers. Red plastic chairs and fragments of them are strewn around, and workers wearing PPE, and some not (the faster you get in, the better you get) begin to swarm on its hide; carts, trolleys, vehicles small and large have been drawn to its fallen frame and the better-dressed folk stand back in posses, having some sort of authority to protect them from what mishaps may still occur when dealing with the dead alien. Haze glows smoggy blue around all the activity.

There's a panicked feeling in Viktor's stomach as he tries to locate the source of the commotion, searching for Mari, but instead it's just one group of the black marketeers shouting into a walkie-talkie. They've got a set of cylinders hooked up to wide, ribbed tubes that follow to somewhere on the Otachi's insides, through its mouth. Viktor knows the basics, that you or whoever's interested in making a buck has to pump the alien with, what, nitrogen or something, he forgets, first, to make the environment safer, but that's usually done without communication to the interior. So what gives?

He realizes they're a little closer than is probably safe but no one seems to notice, as long as they keep moving a bit and dodge the commotion of harvesters, their vehicles and their biogoods. He can't catch much of what the posse under scrutiny is saying; his Cantonese is alright but not good enough in this circumstance. Yuuri gives him a nudge; Viktor follows his line of sight, alarmed into thinking Mari's on scene. No Mari, but as they walk to change their viewing angle, Mari's garbage pons is right under everyone's noses, half-hidden, half-entagled beside the cylinders and readout equipment.

Viktor's brow furrows. Mari wouldn't leave her machine alone unless she had a good reason to. Yet, nothing's clear enough to take action. He and his copilot exchange a glance. Stay, keep watching.

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**Audio transcription - S56XVoice Recorder Katsuki_M**

_OK, I'm in, could probably live here and should shut up, else they'll catch on._

_swwwwsh_

_swwwwsh_

_"Getting closer in."_

_swwwwsh_

_"We've reached the upper pelvic area. Moving to the 25th vertebra."_

_swwwsh_

_"Dammit, secondary brain's damaged."_

_"Bitch!"_

_"Levels good to take samples?"_

_"CO2's good."_

_swwwwsh_

_swwwbD-mPssssh_

_"Wait."_

_"Wait what?"_

_"What was that-"_

_bD-MP_

_It's like a heartbeat! Oh damn, it's a heartbeat!_

_"Listen!"_

_"It's a hearbeat!"_

_"Shit, let's scram!"_

_Wait, what? We need to see thi- oh damn, ok! Holy hell, if I die today it's gonna be worth it!_

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Apparently everyone's understood something from the Cantonese shouting over the walkie-talkie, which has become something extremely desirable with everyone in the command posse vying to listen to it; all of a sudden, right after it seems like the bickering's calmed and everyone has quieted to hear what's coming though the static, the place explodes and people scream and run away from the Kaiju carcass, which soon heaves oddly from inside. Viktor and Yuuri level their weapons like many others do and back away as most make an outright dash, blocked though by equipment and debris. Screaming, yelling, Viktor thinks he hears _"KAIJU! KAIJU!"_ but it's hard to tell.

Four people in very odd-looking inflated suits and plastic head-boxes, which have been connected to the cylinders safeguarding Mari's garbage machine stumble and bobble out of the Kaiju's mouth and _right on their tails_ comes the fucking _ugliest_ baby animal (that's what it must be, it bears a striking resemblance to its mother) comes grappling out in a fit. Its huge eyes are covered with a milky film, gross and bulbous, but its double jaw seems to be stocked with a healthy arsenal of teeth. Limbs are gangly and long and covered in unearthly wet materials, and some sort of umbilical cord trails Kaiju blue as it throws itself, screeching and chittering, after the investigators who have been searching out its mother's belly and the fleeing crowds piling up on all their own trapping.

The baby Otachi is the size of a double-decker bus.

Viktor and Yuuri backpedal along with the crowd, knowing full well that the risk of taking a gunshot against a Kaiju is not a smart one, and Viktor's about to break into a full-out sprint despite the still-alarmed wonderings of where Mari is when Yuuri locks into his arm in vicegrip, screaming,

" _That's Mari!"_ And Viktor looks, and it is, one of the people in the bobbly inflatable suits. She rips off the top of her suit (somehow she managed to get inside the Otachi, figures) but unfortunately she and the other spelunkers are at the back of the fleeing crowd and first in line to be snapped up by the Kaiju spawn.

This all only has time to register before Yuuri grabs, straight up _grabs_ Viktor's submachine from him and starts firing at the Otachi young, yelling "Hey! _Hey!_ "

Of course the bullets do nothing but sting its face and it whirls towards the source of the annoyance, huge eyes luminescent and terrifying, and it starts flopping, rushing at Viktor and Yuuri. Yuuri's ploy hasn't worked, though, because Mari's silly inflatable suit has snagged onto the Otachi's forearm and she's yanked along across the distraught terrain, at the same time yelling, " _Nonono don't kill it!"_ as Yuuri's walking back all too slowly in the face of the Otachi's approach, levelling Viktor's gun and Viktor knows he's waiting for the Kaiju offspring to open its mouth and invite death. For a second it looks like the umbilical cord will noose around its neck and snuff the life out of the abominable creature but it stops tightening, must have disconnected from wherever inside its mother's carcass. Viktor's one millisecond short of yanking Yuuri away to safety, but Otachi's faster. It lets out a caterwauling screech and flings the foreleg Mari's stuck on forward in a step that'll take it nose-to-nose with Yuuri's aim. Mari goes flying and smacks half-into Yuuri as he's shooting, spraying bullets off to the side, and all three fall back hard into a crushed Jeep knocked over behind them.

Viktor's instincts are all he's got and he recognizes the blue swelling in the throat of the Otachi young staring them down, lunging and preparing that acid spit; so he pushes him and Yuuri to the side without a second thought but he's too late, the Kaiju forces pressurized alien acid from its throat and Viktor can already imagine what it's like to have your bones and organs _just melt_ -

\- but they don't, only some precipatory drops on the Jeep where they were a millisecond ago, then a screeching vibration pains his ears.

He's been shutting his eyes but now he opens them and someone has obliterated a good chunk of the Kaiju spawn's chest and neck with a very recognizable blast from a very recognizable weapon, a short-range version of the Tango's energycaster but deadly nonetheless. The Otachi goes into death throes as bright blue blood fountains from its gaping wound, quickly darkening. Viktor, and Yuuri beside him, both trace the light trail of the EC0.0001 Caster gun to someone who _definitely_ should not be using it - Yurio.

Yurio is standing behind some cart with abandoned samples on it, propping the bulky weapon up on the table, one arm holding it around the top and the other hand clenched on the horizontal trigger. Lucky it didn't explode on him, thing's still experimental. His posture straightens as the Otachi young goes still.

"Wha - what's he? what's he doing here?!" Viktor yells, looking at Yuuri, then at Mari, then at Yurio, but that's all he has time to do before the fleeing crowd refluxes. Viktor struggles to his feet as immediately the posse of people in charge surround the kid. Ah, fuck, looks like his new goal to make sure Yakov's precious cadet doesn't fall into the hands of the black market mafia. Has the presence of mind to receive his gun, tossed at him from Yuuri as he goes to help Mari up and out of her deflating coccoon. "To the helicopters!" Viktor yells instructions at the two behind him, then he elbows through the gathering crowd, where the black market leaders are too close for comfort to Yurio and the gun, some already running their filthy hands over the technology.

Though Viktor would rather save EC0.0001 than the insolent child, he swings his own weapon back around his shoulders, walks past the mini energycaster and taps it. "Wow, nice-looking," he says, then authoritatively grabs Yurio around the shoulders, wedging himself between some tattooed man who had the laughable arrogance to wear a suit jacket with cuff links to this event, "Not this one, though, I'll take him," and makes off through the crowd, dragging Yurio through and over barriers, hoping to God (since when did he need to start hoping to God and not, well, himself? since recently) that he's clearing a way for the other two to follow. Oh, and also hoping he's not shot through the back.

Thankfully the former happens and the latter doesn't; soon they're followed with complaints of "My machine! my machine though! And-a-and- the otachi- the baby-" from Mari even as they pick up pace, keep shouldering through the crowds, Yurio pushes Viktor's grip off him and keeps up at his own pace.

"Here," Viktor shouts at everyone, finding a suitable ATV to hijack, which is currently idling, attached to a load of Kaiju shit. While Yuuri pushes Mari into the vehicle, Viktor gives Yurio a look that says _I'm driving so you better fucking unload the trailer of crap behind us_ which Yurio responds to with a _middle finger_ (a middle! finger! that KID) - and Viktor can't even look to see if he's doing as told, only climbs into the driver's seat.

Yurio catapults in moments later and Viktor floors it. They make their getaway, and Viktor's honestly surprised that they do.

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They're on route back. Mari has gotten one of the regular transport pilot staff to fly her to the Mainland, and the second copter is the one Viktor flew. He's told the staff to return solo; he's gathered his nerves, yelled "Shut up!" rather irritatedly as Yurio and Mari ramped up their individual complaints and got everyone in the air.

The silence is welcome for a while. Viktor's tightly glad that they're deferring to him as the pilot for now. Yuuri's sitting copilot with the other two behind.

Viktor lets out an exhale, finally. His hands are dirty; with a glance at Yuuri he can see his copilot's jacket also needs a good wash.

"I was _bored._ What am I supposed to do while I'm not matched? Sit around and watch you guys fight Kaiju?" Yurio says moodily to Viktor, even though Viktor hasn't said a word.

"I'll tell you what, you're _not_ supposed to accompany science staff on clandestine ventures," Viktor cuts back.

"Telling me what to do, you're not General anymore," Yurio says with an audible sneer. Viktor just looks ahead.

"Hey, um, it was my fault, like I didn't ask him to go but I probably shouldn't have gone but _holy shit! Did you see that? THE OTACHI was PREGNANT And I got to GO INSIDE and see its YOUNG! WHY'D YOU HAVE TO KILL-"_ Mari's started getting too excited, stuttering a bit, and her brother cuts her off with,

"If we didn't kill it-"

"Me, I killed it," Yurio puts in.

"-then you would've been killed!" Yuuri finishes, turning around in his seat to look at his sister. He doesn't yell, but it has that effect, and the assertion blanches the atmosphere for a moment. Viktor's impressed with this side of Yuuri. Vehement. He likes it.

". . . _Maybe not,"_ Mari almost whimpers.

"Mari!" Yuuri says, and there's more frustration than anger. He abruptly turns back around in his seat. Leans his head up against the headrest. Viktor's got a little smile in spite of himself. "You say I'm stubborn," Yuuri mutters.

"Look, if you all had drifted with the Kaiju then you'd know, you'd know we have to do it again," Mari says. "Anyways, how did you sneak onto the helicopter?" she asks Yurio.

"Behind the gun you dragged on board."

"Why bring the EC0.0001?" Viktor asks Mari. "Honestly . . . why that experimental, bulky . . ."

"I just wanted to be safe," Mari says a little guiltily.

"Ha!" Viktor laughs. Then there's a pause. Then Yuuri's laughing too. They all start laughing. Heck, even Yurio's laughing or snickering or whatever sort of laugh sounds the most cocky and therefore most likely to be Yurio's laugh.

The silence that follows is calmer than before. The chopper whips through the sky, the shatterdome very near. Mari's escort has just landed.

"You'll have to tell the truth now," Viktor says.

". . . If they ask," Yurio mutters. "It's been . . . 38 minutes."

Viktor exhales again.

"I'll land as inconspicuously as possible."

"Oh, they'll notice I was gone," Mari says sullenly. "Let me out first. I'll leave you guys out of the story. Least I can do."

That's a thank-you, Viktor thinks.

"What about the staff that flew you there?" Yuuri asks. One of the things Viktor's noticed about Yuuri. The man's thorough, practical. Or at least in juxtaposition to Viktor himself. Viktor's been forced into some semblance of proper behaviour by his vocation but it's all come undone very easily, whereas Yuuri, Yuuri would - ha - Yuuri would make a good General, Viktor thinks. Well, in that respect. Yuuri really does think of everything, except himself.

"Oh, Juan's a good friend, he's chill," Mari waves Yuuri off. "I wouldn't have gone if he wasn't on shift here."

"I would kick him off base if I still could, then," Viktor remarks dryly.

Then it's time to land.


	21. Cut

 

 

 

 

 

 

_Recuperating_ is the best way to describe the shatterdome after everything settles down, not that it has, really. Viktor and Yuuri have managed to escape implication in Mari's venture, but not Yurio. Just as well, because Yakov's soft spot doesn't leave much for the cadet to fear anyways. Of course, the Marshal's upset, but Viktor imagines if it were another pilot. They would most definitely be put on probation, like a real pilot, not given a verbal slap on the hand, treated like a child, the child Yurio is, or that Yakov thinks he is.

Viktor manages to get to sleep, somehow, a few hours, but he's up before his alarm. He's used to being thrifty with his sleep.

Going to the shatterdome is a bad idea. Cherno's got a full crew on her, but to Viktor's trained eye, they're not doing much other than decontamination, diagnostics and estimates. Black, brown and blue residue spots the raw edges where the Otachi's acid spit melted off half of the Jaeger's sloping helm and chest. That's a few hundred million right there, Viktor winces. And even worse is the Chrome Brutus' dock; task teams have pulled up some parts from the deep but not much. Definitely no resources to rebuild the Jaeger. It's a painful space.

Viktor surprises himself by going running upstairs on the track. It's his habit to try and foretell the future, and it's grim, if category fours keep showing up, and they're down on money and down on Jaegers and down on - down on pilots. He keeps it silent, only the jarring of his feet on the circular path, a dependable rhythm. He can feel responsibility falling on him and Yuuri already. They'll be on the front lines. Elated, he is, but his rational side pushes him to caution. Is it just luck that the Tango escaped unharmed and the Brutus was crushed beneath the waves, the Cherno debilitated? Does Viktor now dare to believe he and Yuuri have something the other pilots don't, beyond their Jaeger? No, no, not yet. But this circumstance will take them there.

There's reality in this, that he really truly isn't General anymore and . . . and, not so much for himself, but for the good of everyone, does he wish Yakov had permitted the combination of duties. Not that he's overconfident or puffed up about himself, but the way things look, he's worried about what shots Yakov will call next.

How Viktor's grown to love being in control. A love, no, scratch that, maybe an addiction, comfortable. But his future now swings from a hinge, bright and free, in tandem with, as it seems, the fate of the world, as it comes undone, too.

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_I guess I should have expected this. I'm just bummed, like, so bummed I didn't get to do what I went there to do. Through all that trouble. It was still kinda worth it, though, getting inside the carcass - seeing one live and up close! And the first ever Kaiju young! Damn I just didn't get to learn anything from it. But it was too cool._

_I have to look on the bright side because Yakov's put me under house arrest. OK, not really. He's put me under supervision. Like, I could take off my ID card or shred it or something, if I really wanted out of the K without being noticed, but . .. argh! he just won't listen! No one understands! Not even Yuuri! Damn! . . ._

_. . . . At least I have some new samples to analyze courtesy of my encounter with the Otachi, but it's not what we need. Where's Yuuri? Minako's never around now. I need someone to complain to. I need someone to convince._

_. . ._

_Nothing to do but write a post on the Otachi spawn rumor, nyeh heh heh . . ._

_You know, I realized Yurio reminds me of my PhD supervisor at MIT. His eyes and hair colour, really really blonde. She had a son, yeah, he would be about the right age . . . huh, if it's true, what a small world . . ._

_. . . OK, Mari out for now. At least I have the record of the whole thing, right on here._

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Viktor's a little worried when Yuuri's not up by noon. He wanted to take Makkachin out for a walk outside while they wait for Jaegers to be fixed, pilots to be paired, and predictions to be released. Instead, he visits Emil, whose arm is broken but not his spirits, who promises he'll hang around LOCCENT and help out there while he's no use at punching aliens.

"Got to pair Otabek off with Yurio, I mean, there's no choice, even if they aren't drift compatible, we can't have one just one Jaeger," Emil mentions. And Viktor has to agree. "He'll be fine, he doesn't rock the boat at all," Emil adds confidently.

Viktor takes a curious walk by where he knows Yakov is likely to be, one of the meeting rooms; the shatterdome is a flurry of activity, staff fixing tech systems from the power outage, the majority of the repair crew busy with Jaeger repairs; the shatterdome itself has been open since 8:00 a.m. with freight and transport going in and out. Thus Viktor's able to go about relatively ignored, and notice that the Cherno is indeed being repaired.

Yakov's not there, but in the second most likely place, and just as well because there's easier to listen in on. He's talking to Yurio again. Is it just the two of them? As the conversation goes on, Viktor suspects as much.

"Tell me I'm not compatible." The defiant tone is easily attributable to Yurio.

"I'm not saying you're not compatible, Yurochka, but both of you are inexperienced."

"Then why am I here?!"

" _Not_ to give away the Jaeger program's top technology to low-level groups of Kaiju harvesters."

"You'd rather the Otachi have killed your scientist - then," and Viktor's grateful for the catch the kid recovers from smoothly enough to let it slide under the radar. Cat's still in the bag. May it always be.

"What are you going to do? You can't protect humanity with one Jaeger. I might as well just leave," Yurio continues.

"No, you'll stay here to train. You will get to do what you want, I promise, but it has to be safe first."

"Safe?! If I wanted _safe,_ I wouldn't be here!"

"It's what Nikolai would want for you!"

There's only a flutter of the curtain backstage to Yakov and why he is the way he is with Yurio there, in the tone, but it's revealing nonetheless. It's not soft, or caring, it's an argument. _Justification._

"What makes you think I care what the old man would've wanted?!" There's straining with the anger in Yurio's voice. Both are speaking in Russian. " _You did agree_ to sign me into the program, finally! Grandfather was too sick to do anything while-"

"But he did, he changed his mind, and you're here now. So leave it to me to make wrong things right," Yakov cuts Yurio off.

Viktor feels a little guilty for having heard as much and so doesn't stick around to see if that's the end of the conversation or not.

After lunch Viktor goes back down to check on room 57. The door's slightly ajar, a faint light emanating. He knocks to be polite.

"Yes, come in," Yuuri says. Viktor does. Yuuri's sitting on his bed with headphones in, connected to his phone in his hands, but he takes his earbuds out as Viktor sits down beside him.

"Got a good sleep?" asks Viktor.

"Sort of," Yuuri says.

"I don't feel tired yet, it will take a day or three to catch up to me," Viktor comments.

Yuuri takes of his glasses and rubs his eyes.

"You should go have lunch or something," Viktor says.

"Not hungry," Yuuri replies. Viktor almost flinches at his tone. "Sorry," Yuuri amends quietly.

They just sort of stay, exist for awhile. Viktor doesn't push. He's not even waiting. Just leaving Yuuri's options open.

As he hopes, though, Yuuri resumes.

" . . . I don't get so anxious, and fewer nightmares, but it's still hard to sleep. After yesterday . . . I just felt dizzy the whole night. And I feel all . . . disconnected. I'm still dizzy."

"Disconnected?" asks Viktor.

"It feels like the medications just take some part of me out, the part that usually . . . . gives me trouble . . . but nothing in its place, just an odd sort of ghost-ish sensation . . . sorry, I'm not making sense. I do something, and it seems third-person. Even yesterday . . . it's like a film I've watched. Maybe, that makes sense?"

To hear this, Viktor's spirits fall. "You could ask Leo or Mari about it. But it's still only been two weeks. It could still improve." Yuuri nods, still looking down. "Do you want to walk around?" Viktor asks.

"Not really."

"Do you want water?"

"Not really."

"What do you want me to be to you, then, Yuuri?"

The question appears to startle the Japanese man, who looks up at him.

"My copilot?" Yuuri replies, but it sounds like he's guessing for the right answer, and Viktor doesn't have one in mind.

Viktor shakes his head. "You and I, we're different than you and Phichit. Yes?"

"Yes," Yuuri agrees. His hands clasp, fingers rub against his knuckles and back of his hands.

"A brother?"

"No. . . "

"A father figure?"

"No . . . "

"A counselor?"

"No . . ."

"A lover?"

"-What?!" Yuuri's startled. "Ah- no- Viktor- please, just stay who you are."

Viktor snorts gently. "And what if I don't even know who that is anymore? Do you mean General Viktor Nikiforov? Or someone else?"

Yuuri shakes his head. "I mean . . . you made an effort . . . before, to get to know us pilots. You still do. You've never been just General."

"But now?"

" . . . I don't even know. What I'm supposed to be, or you're supposed to be. But . . . please, just stay you."

This phrase, the warm smile, Yuuri's honest eyes, his open posture, are a gift to Viktor. His whole life he's been changing shapes and forms, searching for the ultimate, never quite satisfied, and you know what, he doesn't think he's ever had anyone say to him, _just stay you._

Viktor takes Yuuri's hand, and Yuuri lets him.

"Let's something new together," Viktor says, with a smile. "Right?"

"We already are," Yuuri says to make Viktor's breath catch in his throat. "Right?"

Viktor doesn't know what to reply other than, "Right."

How can one soul bring him to his knees so swifly and effectively, killing the words on his tongue? Viktor's overwhelmed with the man and that increasing shift of perspective, that he's the one who has something to learn, that he's the one receiving, he's got no real upper hand despite his former title and training and prestige. In fact, he does and will continue to embrace the idea. It's, unexpectedly, what he's always wanted.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

That evening mostly everyone sort of congregates in the K. Mari, Yuuri, Viktor, Otabek, Mila, Yurio; Minako's absent, as well as Emil and Sara still detained in medical. The mood is strange; somber tension, sorrowed excitement, not of the good sort.

Mila's just told everyone that Yakov intends to pair her and Yurio while Sara's on the mend. Mari had a look at the Italian pilot; she's got a reaction blistering over her back to a brush with the spray from the Otachi's acid spit, but Mari's assured everyone she's in no life-threatening danger.

"Why not just use the drift testing already done?" Yurio's ranting. He motions at Otabek. "Why not?!"

"He said he needs an experienced copilot for you," Mila says, crossing her arms. "I mean, I'm sure we can make it work, but it's going to be a learning curve for me, the Phoenix, whereas you've been trained on the Jaeger," she says, referring to Otabek, who's leaning against the blackboards on Minako's empty side of the room, stoic as ever. He just gives a curt nod.

Yuuri's drawing something in the corner of the chalkboard distractedly; Viktor's watching more curiously than he hopes is evident.

"It makes _no_ sense," Yurio stomps. "God, I wish I was just a random cadet."

"Did Yakov coach you like Viktor?" Mila asks curiously.

Yurio shakes his head and scowls. "No, he used to copilot with my grandfather."

Mila's lips fall open in a pretty _o._ "Nikolai Satina is your grandfather?"

Yurio just scowls more and when it's become apparent he won't answer the question, Mila returns the expression. "You know, if you purposely sabotage Yakov's decision, it's not just yourself-"

"I know I know," Yurio cuts her off.

Viktor strains to catch the chalk Yuuri's methodically laying down and triumphantly deduces it's Pikachu.

"Did you see anything interesting in Hong Kong or not?" Otabek asks, to Mari and Yurio.

"Oh hell we did," Mari responds with fire, standing up from where she's been organizing slides or something in a storage file box, "Minako was right! It was a triple event! There was a baby Kaiju! We got to see it up close! And _he_ felt the need to blast it to bits-" Mari gestures at Yurio.

"She would rather get _eaten_ ," Yurio says.

Mari makes some noise of indignant disbelief. "I wasn't about to! If you'd just held off a bit-" Viktor makes the eye contact he's been trying to and sends her a cautionary look.

"Well anyways," Mari finishes, but Mila's remarking,

"A baby Kaiju? How big was it?"

Yurio rolls his eyes and Mari starts, "Like a bus! A large bus! You should have seen its eyes! Oh, damn, I wish I'd gotten samples! No the whole thing! And the mother too! I-I could maybe figure out how they procreate, I could-"

"Did you tell Yakov?" Yuuri says, turning around, looking like this is the first time he's heard of a baby Kaiju. It's pretty convincing. "If predictions got it wrong and Minako got it right, they should know about it!"

"Of course! But Yakov's just me stuck in here under surveillance all day now!"

"Can't blame him, that was a dangerous thing to do," Viktor comments.

"Ha-" Mari starts. Hopefully she realizes he means that about all of them, that they were all equally stupid. "Shush, General," she says sarcastically. Viktor grins.

"You all got free time now? Want to show me around the Phoenix?" Mila says with a sigh that says she's ready to do something she doesn't really want to. Yurio shrugs.

"Sure," he says. "Coming?" he asks Otabek, who wordlessly follows.

When they're gone, Yuuri gives Viktor and Mari a sheepish look.

"I'm going to bed. I'm feeling dizzy again," he says.

Mari goes over to him all of a sudden and wraps him in her arms. It's nothing elegant, it's a grip, a hold on reality. She's an inch shorter than him, not much; Yuuri reacts in surprise then closes his eyes and leans his chin on her shoulder.

"You know you all probably saved my damn life," she says jerkily and then lets him go, gives him a push. "Go, go to bed," she commands, straightening back up. Yuuri goes off as ordered but he looks happy.

Now it's just Mari and Viktor.

"I did try and reason him into not running off after you, but I suppose I might've done the same in his shoes," Viktor says.

"Mm, no siblings? Only child, right?" Mari replies, plopping back down on a swively bar-height stool.

Viktor waves a hand in the air. "My mother was married before, but it was a hard place for her. She doesn't talk about it much." He makes to leave but Mari stops him.

"Viktor, please." He can tell from the tone of her voice what she's going to say. With a short sigh, he stays himself. "You know I wouldn't put myself and others in danger like that without a good reason," Mari argues. "You know me, right?"

Viktor frowns. "Admittedly, between you and Minako, you're the one most likely to throw yourself in harm's way chasing fantastical scientific discoveries."

"This isn't about me vs. her!" Mari says frantically. "Just me. Look, I know I'm, uh, excitable. And my plans lack something in the execution. But please believe me that the kaiju drift is _really damn important_ and I just have this hunch that something is going to get screwed up, we're gonna waste our shot at the Breach unless we take the risk to know more! I mean, Yakov's all about planning but he's 0% risk! He'll just never agree. Especially not now."

"Mari . . . "

"Viktor, I - I risked a lot to go out to the mainland, and it didn't work, I get that, but - I mean - it sounds crazy, but I'm gonna do whatever I can, what I think is right, to close the damn Breach. And it would be better if I had people to rely on."

Viktor sees a mirror of Yuuri in his sister's face, that stubborness, those walls. Cut from the same cloth. And she's serious, for once.

"You know Yakov can get rid of you," Viktor says, and it sounds meaner than he intended.

"If he does I'll find some other damn way to do it," Mari asserts, unfazed.

Viktor sighs through his nose. "What do you want me to do?"

"You and the Marshal go back. You know him the best out of everyone here. Even with the whole General-to-Ranger fiasco. Just . . . can you ask him. One more time. Just let him know, what will it hurt?" Mari spreads her arms. "Any junior tech can decode Kaiju genomes. They don't need me to do that. Why not let me have a go at what might end up helping everyone?"

Arching his eyebrows, Viktor glances down. "I suppose I can try."

"I only want you to if you really believe it's worth it, the kaiju drift," Mari says.

"I do," Viktor says. "But Yuuri won't, and I won't, let you go off on any more ill-prepared escapades. So, yes. I'll talk to Yakov."

"Thank you," Mari says, her expression softening.

"Alright then, I'll need to rest and get my strength up," Viktor says, cracking a smile. "Goodnight." As he turns to leave he catches Mari's mouth opening, then closing. Whatever she was going to say, apparently it's not the time. So he leaves.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The room feels like an old haunt (already), where Yakov's agreed to meet with Viktor (one last time? It feels like some sort of reunion). After noon the next day and Viktor arrives a minute late, because he doesn't have his key card anymore and he doesn't want to wait for Yakov outside.

The Marshal's already there, sitting in his usual place, serious as ever in a black coat. He nods as Viktor enters and sits down beside him and angles his chair towards the other.

Viktor's decided this meeting will turn out in his favor if he doesn't assume too much, so he plays the part of the Ranger. He murmurs thanks to Yakov for meeting him here. The man is stressed, obviously, and maybe not so ready to budge on his policies or do anyone any favors.

"So, what is it?" the Marshal prompts.

"The project you have Mari working on," Viktor starts. "Decoding the Otachi biosignature."

"Yes?"

"You know Mari has a double PhD. You could get any number of other scientists to do the task."

"The legwork is nothing I've time for," Yakov says.

"Mari would do it for you. If you gave her a bit more free reign to investigate the Kaiju drift she's proposed."

Knowing frustration crosses Yakov's brow. "Vitya, please, do not bring this up, especially after two days ago." Viktor's only slightly comforted by the familiar statement of his name, and less comforted by its tone. He has a feeling _Vitya_ is being used to try and close the door, wall up the storm.

"Look, I know it went terribly. And she shouldn't have done that. But Mari's not stupid. Do you think she would take that risk if she didn't believe there were something to gain, something important? I spoke to her, and she still fervently believes there's a piece of the puzzle missing when it comes to closing the drift."

Yakov rubs his forehead and Viktor waits pensively for the answer.

"I don't pretend that there are important scientific discoveries to be made regarding the breach," the Marshal starts, slowly. "But I remain by my word. Now is not the time to make them. Predictions is working on refining their confirmation for the plan of attack, and by the looks of it, the alien wormhole won't be able to withstand the blast we'll send down its throat."

Viktor very much wants to argue, like he would have done before, but _you're not General anymore, no?_ \- but just about as he's about to lower his head and nod, he remembers it's not just General he's been beside Yakov, no, they go far back, and he still has some ground to stand on.

"I'm only worried for everyone's safety," Viktor says. "Yakov, you know that."

"It's not your job to be worried any more," Yakov says tightly.

"Yakov, please, I know I'm not General any more, everyone knows that," Viktor lets loose, his tone exasperated in his ears, "But I'm trying my best, and I know Yuuri and I had a good run despite everything two days ago, and . . . I know you never coached me to be a pilot, but does that really matter?" Viktor's ashamed at how small his voice sounds, he's got his hands gripping his knees.

Yakov doesn't respond to that plea, just sighs.

"Any more suggestions?" the Marshal says.

Swallowing, Viktor's lost the fight, but as he's served this prompt, he may as well go out with a bang.

"I think Yurio should be paired with Otabek, not Mila." And Viktor doesn't have to explain why, because it's very obvious why Otabek is the logical choice here.

"He needs an experienced pilot," Yakov replies.

"Why?" Viktor says. "Yurio's the best Academy cadet. And, you sent him in with Yuuri before. You gave him right hemisphere," Viktor challenges.

"Katsuki's not the problem. In fact, I have full confidence in him."

Eyes narrowing, Viktor's not surprised to discovering the truth, that Yurio's first mission was just Yakov's favoritism at play, jumping the gun to give Yurio the glory of his first kill.

"I wish I hadn't separated them," Yakov continues. And that means, he wishes Yuuri and Viktor weren't copilots, had never been given the chance, and it riles Viktor up, sends a sour feeling into his stomach.

"Aren't we doing well enough?" Viktor says, almost in disbelief. He dares to challenge. "Yakov, more than just the Chrome Brutus' crew would likely be dead now-"

"I know, Viktor," Yakov says. "But answer me, and the truth. Would you still be General if Yuuri didn't return?"

He cannot tell a lie. "Probably." He bites his lip. "Yes." Not that he wouldn't have still wanted to pilot, but he wouldn't have fought for it. He looks up. "Yakov, I've found what I've been looking for my entire life." _I think._ Musters a smile, which then blooms quietly on its own. It's the first time he's verbalized it, and he realizes it sounds like a solid proposition, it's real.

When Viktor looks up, Yakov has a grim, detached look on his face. Maybe Viktor was expecting a nod, softened, the _Vitya_ again, "I see," or something of the sort.

"Then I should have never wasted my time mentoring you if this is the kind of man you really are," Yakov says instead, standing. Tone swift, final. Pushing in his chair, docking his hat back on his head, leaving.

Viktor feels his mouth parted open, slightly, as his soul trembles, cut.

That wasn't just a disagreement.

That wasn't just a compromise, or even a refusal.

Not like Viktor could have predicted that he'd fall for another man, not that he'd even cared to think about that, always too busy, but he couldn't control his heart, now, and it wasn't - he didn't think -

There's just a lump in his throat and water in his eyes, now, and no more Yakov. Really, Viktor's never thought of himself as an orphan, technically, maybe, since his parents were killed, but - but now he is, for sure.


	22. The Rush

Now it will be Viktor's turn to give Yuuri the _I'm fine_ line, and he knows so, and when Yuuri picks up something about Viktor's posture and the way his mouth sits and asks what happened, Viktor just says, "Please, let's save it for later," and Yuuri respects that.

Nevertheless, the next morning they don't really talk during their run, don't really talk going to the gym, split apart to work out separately. The rhythm is that they'll usually do stuff together, first, but not today.

Luckily, Mila, Otabek and Yurio enter to provide some distraction from the too-quiet atmosphere.

"Aren't you tired?" Otabek's saying to the others. His black tank top leaves his muscled physique evident.

"Nope, I'm ready to go," Mila replies smoothly. "Getting ready to pilot a new Jaeger means grinding."

"We spent like . . . four hours in the shatterdome," Yurio's moaning. "I got like . . . five hours of sleep."

"Sorry, princess." Mila, with admirable form, then scoops Yurio up and hoists him over her head.

"Put me down, you hag!" Yurio screeches. From the sidelines, if Viktor were in a better mood, he would have given Mila a slow clap.

"Catch," Mila says, staggering a bit as her load struggles, and dumps/throws him to Otabek. The other new pilot catches Yurio in a bridal style hold and quickly rights him onto his feet.

"God! You two are strange!" Yurio shakes his shoulders and stalks off to the rowing machines. Mila's laughing.

"Well, if you don't want me to lift you, maybe put on some weight," she says.

From where Yurio passes Viktor, he thinks he catches, "couldn't if I tried." Ah, maybe he should give the kid a break, and maybe a few years. It sounds meaner coming out of someone else's mouth and not just vague criticisms swirling inside his own head.

When predictions are released later that day, it looks like five days till the next breach opening. As well, there's a short update on the final plan, which has been dubbed Operation Pitfall, what Viktor and Yakov had been tossing around . . . before. Pilot pairs not for sure yet.

After lunch, after sim room training, Viktor and Yuuri go to watch repairs on the Tango from the usual balcony. Viktor feels like Yuuri's waiting for an explanation, the 'later' clause he set forth earlier.

"Yakov just made it clear that he's as good as disowned me," Viktor laments, gaze fixed on the sparks flying as two harnessed techs repair some of the panels on the energycaster.

"Why?" Yuuri asks.

"I went to talk to him about . . . " Well, Yuuri won't like it, but it's the truth, " . . . Mari's drift experiment."

"To try and let her do it again?" Yuuri exclaims.

"Yuuri, your sister isn't stupid, far from, I mean, tell me why she'd put herself in such harm's way unless there was something to be gained?"

"Cause she's Mari," Yuuri says with a little roll of the eyes, then leans back on the rail. "I'm sure it's worth it . . . I don't doubt that . . . Just . . . " He sighs.

Viktor hopes the topic's dropped, but it's not.

"Anyways, he didn't like that you were still trying to give him advice?" Yuuri resumes.

Viktor shrugs, avoiding the point. "I suppose. Maybe he feels I'm tossing aside everything he ever did for me. When it's not like that. I wouldn't be here, ready for this, without him." Delicately breaching the distilled, the clear truth.

"Was he sort of like your father?" murmurs Yuuri. "After your parents died?"

It comforts Viktor that Yuuri feels comfortable enough to mention this fact of his life.

"Yes, no," Viktor says. "He could never be, but yet - yet it seems more and more like it now." And the tears, the feeling of his heart straining to hold together at Yakov's denouncement attests to that last amendment. "Well, maybe not through anyone else's glasses, but he was what I had, and all I had," Viktor finishes. It's too heavy for his liking so he just leans towards Yuuri, says in an exaggerated tone, "Ah, me, a grown man of 27, _I_ should be the father figure by now." He laughs and teases a shy grin out of Yuuri. Elbows his copilot. "Have you talked to your parents at all since you came back?"

Yuuri shakes his head. "They've probably seen on the news by now," he says.

"So impersonal, though," Viktor says. "You are close enough with your parents, no?"

Yuuri sighs. "I guess we are alright. When I originally joined the Academy . . . they sort of forced me to. I didn't want to."

"No love lost, though?"

"Not serious. I think they've just accepted I'm grown up, I'm further away and they had a hand in it."

"Hm." Viktor rests his chin on his knuckles. "So, why did you keep going in the Academy, even if you didn't like it?"

"My parents were right. It was a good thing to do. And I could help . . . help protect them. Phichit encouraged me," Yuuri says. His tone holds that permanent strain, that deformation in his heart that Phichit's death left. "I stopped believing that though," he whispers, the _after_ implied.

"Do you believe it again?" Viktor dares ask.

"Maybe." Yuuri looks up at the Tango's helm. "More, every Kaiju we stop." His hand's clenched. "It makes me feel like I'm doing something good with my life. I'm worth something after . . . after all."

"Yuuri . . . " Viktor murmurs, a soft song. "Everyone is _always_ worth something." He holds his copilot's gaze. "Especially you." Apparently that last phrase is too sincere, too blunt to be politely mistaken and a blush decorates Yuuri's cheeks.

"Can you believe I wanted to become a figure skater," blurts Yuuri, with a laugh, diverting the subject.

Viktor should probably play like he hasn't read and read again Yuuri's Academy application, hell, all the paperwork they have on him. "I think I remember something like that," he says.

"Look at me. I gain weight too easily. I mean, it probably would have never worked. I failed badly in juniors . . . that was the push for my parents to put me in the Academy."

"What do you mean, gain weight?" Viktor says because frankly he can't imagine a better shape for Yuuri.

"I'm not slim like a figure skater," Yuuri says.

"No, but you're not overweight," Viktor frowns.

"It was in the Academy I realized I was going to put on weight whether I liked it or not, and figured out how to put that into muscle and not fat," Yuuri clarifies. And Viktor's relieved to know Yuuri doesn't think of his figure badly. He's not got the muscle definition, the low bodyfat, like Otabek, but Viktor bets he could lift more and last longer; the latter, for sure. Well, to make a better comparison, he'd need to have a better look, of course, Viktor amends internally.

"Do you think you could lift me?" Viktor muses. "Like, up," he motions above his head.

"Maybe if I were taller," Yuuri says. "You could probably lift me."

"I could work on that," Viktor says. "Yuuri, really, you should send your parents a note or something. Just something small. They'll appreciate it."

Yuuri looks disappointed that Viktor's brought that back up. "I guess."

"I know," Viktor says firmly. "Later, you'll wish you had."

"They could beat me to it," Yuuri says. "Hey, it's mail day. We can go check."

So they do, just that easily, and it pleases Viktor that now it's _we_ not _I_ and no one has to ask to make sure of that.

The mail shelves are in the bay, and making their way around the organized chaos of traffic going in and out, the two check their respective slots. Viktor's got nothing, the volume that usually sits there creating extra pressure in Yakov's shelf. Yuuri pulls an envelope out of his.

"I was right." Japanese characters have been neatly pressed into the envelope by blue pen. Viktor leans over Yuuri's shoulder.

"Is that your mom's printing?" he asks.

"Yes. Isn't it nice? Mine's messier. But she insists hers is," Yuuri says, fondness in his tone. He turns the envelope, pink with white decorative illustrations, over and opens it up.

Viktor notices there's mail in Yurio's box and wonders idly who it's from (not his mother, Viktor knows she's in an institution somewhere, but he's never heard a word about Yurio's father) while Yuuri opens the letter and starts reading. A blustery wind kicks in through the open bay doors as transport vehicles go in and out, the beeping of warning lights, flashing, workers doing their duties.

Yurio stomps up sullenly and grabs the mail out of his shelf, looking a bit frantic as he takes out the slim package, rips it open and shakes whatever's inside into his waiting palm - it's his phone. A piece of paper flutters to the floor and Yurio swoops to snatch it mid-air. Viktor hears him mutter something and stalk away. All Viktor can guess is that he must've dropped it during their Mainland excursion. Maybe he knows someone in Hong Kong.

"So, what does she say?" Viktor says to Yuuri, who's folding the letter back up with a wistful smile.

"She sends her love, and so does my father, and says to stay safe."

"Do you think she's glad you're back?"

"Yes." Yuuri glances down. "I never really told them where I was going or what I was going to do when I left for the Wall. She's relieved, I think."

"Good. You'll write her back?"

"When I think of something to say."

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Privately, when he's falling asleep with Makkachin squished beside him or ontop of him, or pushing him half-off the bed, he wonders how he can keep this up, staying at arm's length from Yuuri. He will, that's for sure, until Yuuri lets him closer, but he has to be frank with himself.

He _wants_ Yuuri.

All but consumed.

When he's not with him, he's dreaming of him, thinking of him, going over every detail, every moment. In fact it almost scares him sometimes, how deeply and violently these emotions seem to have grown. And are they for the best, or for the worst? He believes he gets to make that choice.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

When the next Kaiju comes through the drift, Yurio and Mila haven't passed drift testing, and Sara's doing rehab every waking moment it seems. Mari's mumbled something about the Kaiju acid spit and not enough funding.

So it's Yuuri and Viktor, bid no farewell by Yakov, locked into drivesuits, placed into the Tango's ConnPod. The Jaeger's itching for action it seems, repairs finished and ready to rumble again.

"Category IV, one signature, looks like another Leatherback," Guang-Hong's soft tone comes through as the AI counts down to drift initiation.

"Nothing we can't handle," Viktor says. He and Yuuri were seen off by the other Rangers, of course, but there was this dark caution in their eyes, a reminder of the Chrome Brutus' crew. So Viktor's not as free as he'd like to feel, but he can still be confident.

"Let's do this," Yuuri murmurs as the drift tunnels their consciousnesses together.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The Tango dances her way around the known foe, timing perfect, execution as planned. Viktor and Yuuri walk the Tango back, they did such a good intercept and stopped the alien in its tracks. A joint PPDC/UBHA unit swarms to the site, having had time to prep for retrieving the carcass for study, also having received the OK for Yakov (Viktor guesses) to do so. The pact with the black market leases alien materials on home soil to the harvesters and excludes whatever falls to a watery grave. Anyways, that's a task to retrieve and everything's worth less waterlogged.

Viktor's still unprepared for the rush, still a bit disoriented from the drift (which has been difficult to leave, he doesn't need Guang-Hong's waveforms to tell him he and Yuuri drift well and drift deep) when he and Yuuri stumble out on their way to the drivesuit room, arms around each other's shoulders. The jubilant crowd flocks to them and Viktor's still astonished by the pride in him, the pure joy, something he's never felt by earning his own rewards or holding up trophies alone. It means so much more _together, with Yuuri._

Of course, back to the grind it is, but Viktor can see Yuuri's more steady, his confidence has received a boost true to his word, _every Kaiju we stop_. And when they go to the gym, Yuuri corrects Viktor's form sometimes, and sometimes it's evident he's put some nerve into the admonition, and some other better times it's quick, honest, between friends-copilots banter. They walk Makkachin, they shoot hoops with the other pilots, keep Mari a bit of welcome company; they talk, too, and learn more about each other.

Yurio and Mila pass compatibility testing. It almost surprises Viktor, not the fact that they passed, but that they actually seem to fight well together, even if it's clear they don't particularly relish each other's company. Sara's still working in rehab. She's been back in the drivesuit, but problems with back and shoulders are preventing her from actually piloting for now.

The pilots don't hear anything about operation Pitfall, yet. Late at night, sometimes, Viktor's mind starts turning there before he can stop it and relinquish the mental strain to the Marshal.

Double event comes earlier than predicted. 4:52 a.m. to be precise; slated for later that morning at 11:30. But Rangers have to be ready. It's very obvious who's on duty: the Tango and the Phoenix, Viktor and Yuuri, Yurio and Mila.

But Yurio's not there.

Mila and Viktor and Yuuri are speed-walking to the drivesuit prep rooms with the usual farewell crowd lagging around them but looking around worriedly because where's that kid gone to?

"Yuri Plisetsky, report to drivesuit prep immediately," Yakov's stern tone booms out over the PA, making Viktor realize it's been a while since a notice has needed to be broadcast in that manner.

"Oh my _god,_ " Mila says as they reach the exit and stall there, wondering what's to happen to the mission.

"Was he doing anything in the evening?" Yuuri asks Mila. Her and Yurio and Otabek have a routine of going to work on training after suppertime.

She tosses her head _no._ "Not that I know. He's not usually interested when Be-Otabek's training me on the Phoenix."

"I thought you were all working together?"

"Yurio and Otabek had some kind of argument when we went to spar last month and Yurio's just slunk off to somewhere when we go to the shatterdome ever since. Something childish from the Academy," Mila says shortly. "But I don't know, we didn't work on the Phoenix last night."

"Yuri Plisetsky, report to drivesuit prep," Yakov says over the PA again.

"Do we suit up? Do we not?" Mila crosses her arms, standing on her tiptoes to see if anyone is coming their way with orders. Otabek, in the sendoff party, offers to go up to LOCCENT, but then Emil comes running down, arm still cast in a sling across his chest. The small crowd readily makes way for him.

"OK, we don't know where Yuri is but we need two Jaegers and we need them now. One of the Kaiju's a fast one, and it's new, category fours."

Viktor sucks in a breath. Sara, standing behind Emil, says,

"I can probably make it," but Emil cuts her off.

"No, you don't have medical clearance, and you don't know anything about the Phoenix," he says, at the same time Mila's vehemently shaking her head _no_. The technical complications of altering the pilot-Jaeger interface for someone at less than one hundred percent function are surprisingly demanding. Mechanics could go wrong very quickly, could short out the Jaeger and the pilot's synapses, one or both.

There's just a little shift in posture, nod of the head from Otabek that someone gets everyone's attention in a blink.

He steps forward a bit.

Mila doesn't quite say anything, just gives Emil some look and he turns around and waves with his uninjured hand at LOCCENT where Leo's standing behind Guang-Hong, high up and overlooking the shatterdome. Emil motions to Otabek and Mila and Mila joins in.

Leo squints; Guang Hong says something to him and then the resident psychologist makes a shooing motion.

The pilot pairs rush to get their drivesuits on.

_They better be drift compatible,_ Viktor thinks, secondary to the predominant sentiment: _where the fuck is Yurio?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so much dialogue sorry, also finals so ye sorry


	23. Bones

The Tango and Phoenix rendezvous to the intercept point which has been relocated a little too close to the miracle mile for comfort. Apparently, this from Guang-Hong, these new Kaiju are the fastest on record. Nickname's been set to Raiju. Sky's cloudy and the dark of the night is fading away to light blue, bleached at the horizon, with only the barest hints of orange warmth filming where sea meets sky. Visibility is OK, but fog is damp and heavier than optimal.

LOCCENT's opened the comms fully between the two Jaegers. Viktor's jitteriness over Yurio's disappearance shakes and mingles with Yuuri's own concern in the drift and they strengthen each others, their own, attention to the task at hand. The radar sweeps green over concentric circles surrounding the point symbolizing the Tango's location with no threat evident yet, _beep beep_ in Viktor's ear with each revolution.

"You all ready, Phoenix?" Viktor says conversationally to the other two pilots over the comms. Affirmatives come from both of them at the same time, tight and not the most confident.

"We'll try doing the heavy lifting," Yuuri follows up, verbalizing the thread of agreement Viktor's reached with him in the drift.

"Yup," comes over from Otabek.

"Hang on tight, Phoenix, the last thing we need is you two falling out of drift," Yakov's stern tone comes from LOCCENT. That's the last thing said before, "Kaiju signatures rising!", and looks like the Jaegers are going to be stuck in a category IV sandwich whether they like it or not.

Yuuri and Viktor lock their stance and clench fists while Phoenix braces back-to-back with its co-combatant, Sting blades out and hissing every so faintly in the fog. The picture of readiness shatters in an instant as the two speedy threats launch out of the ocean waves, one to each Jaeger.

The attackers are slick, long, and heavy. Stubby limbs, normal set of four, no potential for hidden wings or dexterity, but the first thing that registers to the Tango's pilots as they grapple protectively with the croc-like creature is that it doesn't have thick knobbly skin like most others. Instead the Raiju is sheathed with large, ridged plates of armor, from its tripartite jaw that globbers and snatches at the Tango's shoulder to the end of its thick, paddle-like, long tail. The protective plates stack up in a hustling crest at its shoulders.

Pain lances across Viktor's hip as long, tough claws scrape the Jaeger's hip. The pilots land a solid punch in its throat as they let themselves be forced back by the wild charge from the Raiju, forcing the alien off their body but only giving them time to re-stabilize before the Kaiju, having splashed back down again, clamps around the left knee and drags them off balance. Floundering, they know they're going down, _Yuuri we gotta get the diveseal on, yeah on it,_ and Yuuri hammers that blue button and whooshes and mechanical shudders fill Viktor's ears as the Raiju drags them under.

Just in time the Tango's helm locks and spits the threatening moisture out in bubbling jets. The Tango brings its fists down on the Raiju's head, freeing its knee. In response the Kaiju throws its jaws back and prepares to spit blue. Circular blue veins lining its armor start to dully glow through the water, a school of fish scatters. Before it can launch the toxic into the waters, the Tango executes a strong side kick to the Raiju's jaw, unfurling the chain sword as it does so, pivoting back with a stab at the Raiju's chest.

The slice goes awry as Raiju yaws to the side just enough so that the sword's edge deflects off its armor, leaving the Tango pilots without a good idea of how much force it'll actually take to split this enemy open. Then they're breaching the surface again, pushing with their feet back through the waves to try and get some space, charging mortar cannons.

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Loudspeakers in the yet-quiet (busy, but not as they will be later) early-morning streets in Hong Kong blare the emergency call. The mid-levels reverse direction. Flows of pedestrian and vehicular traffic change to sequester themselves in safety. Somewhere in the bone slum, where the skeletal remnants of a Kaiju remain integrated into drug shops and grocery, some run for cover and others in red hoods with tall pointed lapels don't, cultists calmly making their way to whatever centre they use for rituals. Someone in a hooded jacket pulls a card out of his pocket and a flashlight, stops by a roadsign, a stone in the river of motion. The blue light reveals matching symbols on the card and the sign, a tiger's roaring visage jaggedly rendered. There's an arrow, too, and the card's owner proceeds that direction.

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While the Raiju assigned to the Tango is having a rough time of it, the other is finding its task a little easier. A bit of thrashing goes a long way, it finds; though in water it's slick and speedy as a sardine, outside it's got clout and claws and bats away the Sting-blades repeatedly. The shiny black muscled Jaeger bumbles defensively, taking damage to its left arm with slaps from the Raiju's thick tail. Otabek and Mila's communication pixelates and runs on tangents; maybe they've drifted before but certainly they haven't been in combat together like this before and the Raiju is capitalizing on the lack of coordination.

Greedily the Raiju yawns open its jaws, froths up some Kaiju blue and, finding purchase by raking its formidable claws on and through the Phoenix's welded armor, chews on the left elbow, spitting the bright toxic as sparks fly and the Phoenix stumbles, teeters.

"K-Missiles won't launch! Augh! Left arm compromised!" Mila's yelling to LOCCENT, because the Raiju's in perfect range (point blank) to take some damage from the Phoenix's chest ammunition. But in fact it's too close and the arsenal can't open up properly.

"Phoenix! We'll fire our mortar cannon, turn around to blast the Raiju off -" Yuuri shouts over the comms before LOCCENT can reply, cut off by the other Raiju launching another assault on the Tango.

The two Jaegers have maneuvered themselves a few hundred meters apart through the course of the struggle, perfect for the mortar cannon. Everyone holds tight as the Phoenix staggers in the waves to rotate itself, right arm not doing much as the Raiju triumphantly gnaws at the left elbow.

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In the Tango the drift is electric, lit up with fast-fire thoughts and decisions travelling deep and sure. It's mostly Viktor this time coordinating the diagonal up-swipe with the chainsword as Yuuri does his part by shoving the Raiju back by the throat as he moves with him on the footwork, taking care of the calculations for where and when to fire the mortar cannons, saving Viktor that strain.

Raiju squeals as the chain sword (not without resistance and Viktor yells through clenched teeth with the effort) hacks off its right forearm and with it the set of claws that have already left gouges in the Tango's torso, thankfully not deep enough to reach the reactor. Viktor feels Yuuri's muscle swoop in and they recover from the strike together, bringing the sword back to a ready position, bending weight into knees as the cannon rotates and fires a globby projectile of white to yellow to orange to _red_ as the Phoenix makes those last few degrees of gyration.

The blast impacts the Jaeger's unwelcome hitch hiker. Smoke and steam billow. Chunks of Kaiju and metal fly off in parabolic paths. The Tango's back on its own task. Its pilots grip the chain sword double-handed and rush the Raiju which is left in the waves squirming. The tip finds home at the base of its neck but the Jaeger doesn't have enough momentum to pierce the Kaiju's resistive armor. A moment of panic as the Raiju is pushed back rather than impaled, _what do we do, can't slice it this way,_ but the Kaiju gives them the answer.

It writhes, curling, around the interlocking blade, long jaws dripping blue and chomps its three-way jaws around the sword midway up, straining Viktor's back and shoulders as its makes the sword pivot around the hilt with its weight. At least it's had the brains not to chew on the blade and instead spits up blue acid. This is maybe as alarming. _Don't know how powerful this stuff is, could be Otachi level,_ and they don't have much time to waste, so, pulling from the hips and waist and then shoulders, Yuuri and Viktor yank the blade sideways, holding it strong, rigid, muscles screaming, drivesuit at full electrical capacity, the Tango becoming flesh with them.

They feel the give, _hope to God that's not the sword melting,_ and they recover, step out of the strike, and to their relief the blade's still in one piece and the Raiju's head is not.

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{It's been a good day so far. They're playing her the preludes by Рахманинов. She's got a new brush and stone. She grinds the ink black, and admires the print in the hilt of the block. For exactly how long she doesn't know. It reminds her of one thing, and that of another, and so on and so forth.

Nevertheless she's brought tea. She has the sweet cakes and the sticky rice she barely touches, not because she doesn't like it, but because she doesn't feel like it. While she eats she stares at the brush idly as if this will help it create the forthcoming artwork. It must, because eventually, at the end of it all, there is something on the paper.

She's content with it for a time and sits on the red, gold-embroidered couch. She arranges the creation to the left of the gold lamp, on the glass and mahogany table. Assesses whether it should replace any of those on the wall to her left. No, not yet. It must go on the windows to her right, square-framed with decorative knotted insets, and usually shuttered from the other side.

Rising, she picks the thick parchment up and walks over. This is not the easiest task. She doesn't feel very strong these days; but мама says she will get over it, and of course she will, she doesn't need anyone to tell her that.

One of these things is not like the rest, and she walks to the window that is not as dark as the others. The blinds have been slit open. There is - there is dear - мама, and oh doesn't she look fine, although maybe there is something else to remember, but it must not be too important now. мама is visiting a guest.

She fades away to the distant role of observer, and it's comfortingly routine. Nice things happen in these intermissions, like brushstrokes appearing coherently on her paper and piling up into a composition. And it's her hand that makes them do so, isn't it so? Yes, it is, but she must affirm each time. Frustratingly, this is not the time she would like to put this happening to use. But all she can do is hold up the product of today's (or maybe more than that or less than that, she doesn't need to care) intermission, which is a face, the face, the face of joy itself to her heart, and struggle from somewhere farther away than she'd like to compare this likeness to мама's guest.

Sometime later when she's reading (reading makes her very, _very_ tired but she can't help it) and during that, and during when the attendants come in to give her the medications, in her mind she repeats the resolution to ask мама about that boy, that face, because she must not forget, it's very important and it would make her very happy.}

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally done with finals! uh yeah so idk if the new POV works or not but we'll see


	24. Blue Blood

Everyone returns to a jovial reception. Yuuri's arm is around Viktor's shoulder and his around his own. Sara and Emil in particular are waiting and give everyone congratulations on a good fight. The emphasis is more on Viktor and Yuuri for holding everything together. Guang Hong comes to the front of the crowd.

"You two, did pretty good, for no drift testing," he says to Otabek and Mila, sounding relieved. Mila gives Otabek a quick hug; he doesn't return it, a smile as impermanent as a mist about his expression. "Still, no more piloting together unless we do some testing."

"Are Mila and I copilots now or not?" Otabek asks.

"Uh, uh, Leo?" Guang Hong turns to the psychologist who's standing a little back from him. Leo shrugs.

"Haven't heard from Yakov yet," he says.

Viktor can't see the Marshal anywhere in the crowd. "Do you know if we know where Yurio is yet?" he asks everyone in general. No one gives a good answer. Tech personnel start to disband and vehicles stir into motion to begin assessments and repairs on the Jaegers fresh from battle.

The pilot pairs head off to the drivesuit rooms. Viktor stands still while assistants pry the spinal interface off the back of his suit and store it in its protective casing; they make quick work of unlocking and dismantling the rest of the armor. Drivesuits would be near impossible to put on or take off alone.

The assistants leave when Viktor's down to the thermal, circuited bodysuit and he strips out of that, back into a pair of loose Nike sweats and a gray-blue long sleeved shirt. He leaves the room where Yuuri's waiting, probably just finished as well.

"What do you say we go and see if Yakov has any news of Yuri? I'm worried about him," Yuuri says. Viktor nods. Naturally they head towards LOCCENT.

Viktor wants to think of some way to ask _why do you care about him so much?_ Well of course Viktor is worried for Yurio's wellbeing as a pilot and how that pertains to the whole Jaeger program, but they could just sit back and wait for news.

"I didn't expect you to be this concerned knowing how your drift experience went with him," Viktor says.

"A pilot's missing!" Yuuri exclaims.

"I know, I'm worried about that part, but Yakov is working on it."

"I'm just worried. As far as I'm concerned we didn't work well together because there wasn't enough foundation to go on. That doesn't make either of us any less of a valuable individual." They climb the stairs together. "I consider him a friend, still. We spent a good time training together, even if it wasn't exactly companionable," Yuuri concludes.

"You're a better man than I would be in that same place," Viktor mutters wryly. "Because I'm sure he doesn't consider _you_ to be his friend."

"Maybe I'm just closer to his age. When I was that young and said stupid stuff - it never meant anything, in the long run."

Viktor lets out a disgruntled _hmph._ "Sure, but as a pilot, he needs to not be _that young_ any longer."

"Of course."

While they're in the hallway to LOCCENT, they hear footsteps behind them, Otabek, and Mila and Sara. And then Yakov comes from the control room, talking to a tech who is doing something on his tablet.

"Marshal, any word on Yurio?" Yuuri asks the man in charge, whose brow is more deeply creased than usual.

"No, he's interfered with the tracking device placed in his phone," Yakov says through gritted teeth, looking over the shoulder of the tech who's urgently trying to locate the missing pilot via his cell. The three other pilots gather around as well.

"Oh, something's coming through," the tech says, tapping the half-opaque green-blue scrolling surface. Techs in LOCCENT get to use the nice, new, expensive tablets that are but cylinders which separate and yield a virtual screen via projection technology. The tech looks up at the pilots and then at Yakov. "He's here," she says. "Or his cell is. It's . . . " She pinches and zooms, "It's in the K Science Lab."

Yakov storms off that way and the pilots quickly part, then resurge at his heels to follow.

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"He did _what?_ " Yakov says. Says, still, not shouts, but his tone conveys a shout, it's just as forceful.

Mari squirms in her seat. "Well I don't really know where he went exaaaaaaaactly, he just came down here at like 11 p.m. and I was still up and he basically threw his phone at me and left-"

"And you didn't tell anyone? Mari Katsuki! Do you want to remain part of the Jaeger program?"

"Nyeeehhh I kinda assumed it was on your orders! I didn't know he was moonlighting? I'm sure he's fine!"

Yakov removes his hat, taps it on the desk a couple times, puts it back on. "If you value this position, Mari, you will tell me anything you know about where Yuri Plisetsky could be located right now."

". . . I think he might've said something about the bone slums, a skull and sign or something," Mari squeaks very quickly. "As he was leaving! Don't trust me on that!" She throws up her hands but Yakov's already whirling around, making as if to leave, probably to find a suitable taskforce to haul his as-good-as-grandson out of whatever he's gotten himself into.

Surprisingly Otabek speaks up.

"Marshal, I know the bone slums fairly well. I worked a few terms there with the UBHA during my time at the Academy. There's a building I know that matches the skull and sign description. I still have a bike stored close enough to the docks. Not only would I be inconspicuous, but Yuri would probably cooperate and come with me."

Yakov pauses in his determined mission.

"And what if Yuri has walked into some kind of trouble?"

"I'm an excellent marksman."

"Yes," Yakov says. "Yes, fine. Go. Go to landing three. I'll have a chopper ready." Yakov fiddles with the comm on his ear and starts sending orders down the command chain. Otabek splits the other way. Mila stares after him, arms crossed, until Sara nods at her and they go off together.

Yakov leaves to attend to something else, still talking as he walks.

Viktor glances at Yuuri, who glances at Mari with a no-nonsense sort of look.

"Nyeh?" Mari says, holding her palms up.

"That carcass looks like you haven't done anything with it," Yuuri remarks. The slice of Kaiju meat on the examining table by her side, safely contained in a plastic covering with a port for interaction, is scored with hexagonal patterns and a ruddy, veined dark purple color.

"You wouldn't know. I could have extracted the barest mass from it for analysis and been working on it for _years,_ " Mari proclaims.

Yuuri gets closer.

"There's condensation around it. You just took it out of cryo storage," he says.

"Hmph," Mari says. "Well, I had a feeling Yakov would come by and I was _damn_ right."

Viktor is fully amused watching the siblings.

"You're not telling him everything, are you?" Yuuri prompts his sister.

"So little faith in me! My own brother!" Mari says indignantly.

Yuuri sighs and turns back to Viktor. "She's being overdramatic, which means I'm right but she won't tell me anything while the mood lasts," he explains.

"You've got a trained eye. This is pretty close to normal Mari for me," Viktor says.

Mari scrunches her nose at him and goes over to the counter to pull disposable gloves on.

"You two better leave me damn well alone. I've got to sort out this Kaiju's biosignature before new Raiju stuff comes in. Otherwise you'll be interfering with humanity's very survival," she pronounces, snapping the hem of the glove on her wrist for effect and immediately following that with a wince.

"You're right, she never cares this much about biosignatures," Viktor amends, drawing a snort from Yuuri. He takes out his phone and checks if there is a new prediction yet. No, but supposed to come out soon.

"Mari, do you ever see Minako?" he calls after the scientist.

"No, not anymore," Mari huffs. "Yakov keeps her busy, I guess."

Yuuri and Viktor head off together.

"Grab some food?" Viktor asks, yawning. It's still early.

"Sure," Yuuri agrees. "We could take Makkachin out."

"If there aren't any paparazzi out there yet," Viktor says.

"Well, the Kaiju didn't reach the Mainland, so we could be in luck," Yuuri says.

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_OK so I think everyone has FINALLY left now. Ugh. I should have probably kept Yurio here. But I couldn't! I just couldn't! I'm sorry, but I'm a scientist! And if there's any chance he can get me closer to a Kaiju brain, I'm sorry. I'm on his side! But like, I wish someone could have gone with him. He's just a kid. Maybe I was dumb. Maybe he'll get hurt and it'll be my fault, kinda, for letting him go._

_Huuuuuuhhhhh._

_Yuuri knows I'm not telling him everything, but whatever. It can wait._

_Also, I need to talk to Viktor, one on one. I've seen the eyes he gives Yuuri. As far as I know he's been nothing but a copilot. But Dad's not here and Mom's not here so I will play the good big sister I am._

_This stupid biosignature I'm not even going to complete. It's damn useless. It won't tell me anything new, just give me the same portions of the DNA that are all the same and a little that's different but I can't make heads nor tails out of without at least twenty times the current number of specimens I have. Maybe the Raiju'll be different. Ha! No, it won't._

_I miss Minako. I miss not being under house arrest. Lab arrest. K arrest._

_I'm more worried about Yurio. He better be back soon. Otabek Altin better drag him back quick. And preferably with a lead on a brain. Though, I don't know what'll be waiting for Yurio. Yakov can only be so soft when a pilot freakin' runs off during an event, double event at that!_

_Mari out for now. Maybe I can catch Viktor tomorrow, after all this has blown over._

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As dawn is rising, light falls sharply over the bone slums, stabbing through bleached Kaiju skeletons turned building framework, into the narrow crowded streets. The red robes of the Kaiju cults who make morning pilgrimages through the streets catch the bright saturation where it allows and else fall into dark shadows. Signs light up. The odd vehicle trundles along, making peace with the dominant foot traffic. Men and women have baskets on either end of a pole across their shoulders filled with greens or dried mushrooms or noodles or fish (and no guarantees in the bone slums that there isn't a chance of getting Kaiju blue poisoning, no, not here). Others hurry, clutching bags close, on their way to work. Some to school; mostly to work. Many have motorbikes. Chatter and revving and puttering engines fill the air, the angry syllables of Cantonese blending together in cacophony.

A Harley-Davidson 750 Street joins this group of transportation. It costs a good penny more than most of the A-to-B vehicles on the street, but it's dirty and doesn't stick out. It stops by the foot of a highrise which has been decapitated by a Kaiju but continues living in a modified capacity anyways. There's a bright sign hoisted and held in between skeletal jaws that are probably not ratified by building code several floors up.

After a minute of idling, another passenger comes from the building and joins the driver, a more nimble figure, wearing a leather-and-leopard-print jacket. This figure slips and sits behind.

No words are said as the the driver revs the enginer, maneuvers a 180 around the foot traffic, and returns the way it came.

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"If you have a reason, Ranger, it's a poor one, and I don't want to hear it," is Yakov's welcome to Yurio, who disembarks the chopper alongside Otabek, chin still held tilted up, but it's stiff and Viktor can tell he knows he's in for _something._

However, as Yurio approaches the Marshal, his posture drops and looks aside under the fierce scrutiny of the Jaeger program head.

There's actually quite a reception gathered to see this, though standing a respectful distance back at the bay doors. Viktor and Yuuri, Mila and Sara, Emil, Leo, a handful of curious staff working in the area anyway.

As Yakov is about to turn his back, everyone including the Marshal notices a chopper coming towards - returning to, once they can see the familiar placement of the white ID letters on the side - the shatterdome.

"Yuri?" Yakov demands. Yurio bites his lip angrily. It must be whoever took Yurio to the Mainland in the first place.

The chopper lands on pad 6 and the pilot eventually disembarks, looking fairly calm until he notices that the Marshal and pretty much everyone else of note is gathered to witness his landing. It's Juan.

Viktor looks at Yuuri because he's making a sound and it's a snicker. Yuuri's got his hand over his hand and snickering. This makes Viktor smile like an idiot.

Yuuri leans to Viktor's ear as Yakov goes over to the chopper pilot, leaving Yurio standing on the concrete like a frozen cat, arms crossed. There's a strong morning breeze kicking up.

"Look, under his jacket, Juan's," Yuuri says between giggling snickers and Viktor leans onto one foot to look around Yakov and he sees it. Yurio must have traded one of his obscene fashion jackets for the ride, in part, although Juan looks like he's pleading innocent, held under sway of his-majesty-Yuri Plisetsky's, Jaeger pilot's, authority. Bright cheetah print peeks out from under the plain, standard-issue PPDC windbreaker. Juan is grabbing at the windbreaker and trying to look inconspicuous as he tugs the cover-up closer over the other jacket. Viktor joins Yuuri in muffled laughter. Sara and Mila are looking at them now, and so does Otabek as he walks over, but Viktor doesn't care.

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Yakov has taken Yurio to his office, where the young pilot is undoubtedly sitting in one of those chairs, Those Chairs.

The new prediction is released, set for 5 days from now. Viktor and Yuuri decide to train in the sim room. They pretty much have free reign now, with the other pilot pairs all mixed up and unmatched.

"What do you want to do after this?" Viktor asks Yuuri, after they leave with a pretty good score, only one fault and just a skim fault.

"Get lunch?" Yuuri says. "Shower first, actually." He takes his glasses off and rubs them on with the hem of his shirt.

Viktor laughs. "No, after the breach is closed."

"Oh," Yuuri says. "Maybe I can go back to school. Maybe I can . . " He casts a shy smile at Viktor, that makes Viktor's heart swell a bit, " . . try figure skating again. I mean, I'm not too old yet. I probably wouldn't compete, though."

"I'd love to see that," Viktor says. Yuuri laughs.

"How about you? Let me guess," Yuuri says. Viktor nods, encouraging him. "You want to spend more time with people. I think you would like travel, but not to travel, more to do things with people. But you would also need another goal, another sort of motivation, before long. Otherwise you'll just be Viktor Nikiforov, former Jaeger program general and pilot. Most people would be happy with that, but you wouldn't. You'd want to add something new to your name . . . but maybe this wouldn't be another achievement. Maybe you'd find someone to make you feel complete."

Viktor blinks.

"You've got that much from the drift?" he asks, softly stunned at this look into his heart which has come from an unexpected direction.

"No, you know we don't talk about stuff like that in the drift," Yuuri says, looking down. His dark eyelashes are feathery over his eyes, perfectly framing his eyelids. "I just guessed, knowing what I know about you."

"Well, you know me very well," Viktor says, and it's a breath, light and deep at the same time.

Yuuri blushes but looks at Viktor. "Good," he says. "That's my job."

Usually, Viktor would be disappointed at such a formal statement, but the tone betrays the face value of the phrase. His heart warms.

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_PARDON MY LANGUAGE BUT HOLY FRICKIN KAIJU SHIT!_

_Ok Mari, breathe, breathe. Breathing. Oh damn, hope I didn't wake anyone up._

_So I was right, Yurio's kinda under house arrest, apparently Sara's on the mend so Yurio's now under Otabek's supervision and that's as bad house arrest but ANYWAYS it's 1:23 a.m. and Yurio somehow knew I was awake here (I had to close the Kaiju forum tab real quickly, god he walks really quietly, maybe he saw it, I don't know) so I was all whispering to him and shaking him like did he get the lead on the brain? and he just nodded and was like he's working on it, he saw it though, he SAW it! Of course he didn't have his phone to take any pictures but why would he lie? Ok that was a bad rhetorical question. But honestly, why would he?_

_I'm rambling, damn, anyways, what happened next? Oh yeah, he basically said he'll need to go out again and he'll need me to keep helping him and I was like of course. I'll do anything for a brain. And then it got weird. He asked me to run tests on him. I was like for what. He said for radiation poisoning._

_He wouldn't give me any information until I did so I unlocked the analysis wing, tested a blood sample, and holy SHIT I didn't even get to that part because his blood, from the usual vein, was this creepy bluish purplish color. He looked at it and I looked at it, in the tube, and that resting teenage bitch face he has lifted right off and he had to snap me out of my stupor to actually take the needle out of his arm._

_I just held it up, I was like, what the heck is this? What? Why? He didn't know! Well why did he think he got radiation poisoning? And then - and_ then _\- he told me he's been sleeping in the Cherno's nuclear reactor that's getting repaired._

_That was when I didn't believe him._

_He was like, I didn't_ want _to, I just got bored while Otabek and Mila were training and I went to sleep and it just felt really nice sleeping there._

_"Really nice" - I just really have no comment._

_And, you idiot, you kept sleeping there? Yes he did. OK, idiot, for how long? Ever since they've been training together._

_So I checked for radiation poisoning, because honestly he could have 56 types of cancer right now and I wouldn't be surprised, but nothing._

_Not a trace._

_Just this weird discoloration._

_Now I'm a scientist. I'm not chalking this up to some lucky anomaly in his blood. I took two more tubes. I sent him away and back to bed. He was still whisper-yelling at me,_ you won't tell anyone right? You won't, not if you want that brain! _as I was shoving him away._

_And now here I have my work cut out for me. Yakov will see on my log that I went to the medical wing at this very odd time, but I just re-labeled the samples as my own and I'll tell him I woke up feeling funny and was worried I had been contaminated by the new Raiju sample that came in in the evening. And there's my excuse to work on this top priority ahead of the Raiju sample. Ha! Perfect. I'm a damn genius._

_I'd better be, to figure this out._

_Holy hell. For all I know, Yurio's sleeping in the Cherno's reactor right now. "Felt nice"?! God! That kid!_

_I have things to worry about now. I have too many things to worry about. Damn, I still gotta talk to Viktor. That can wait for now._

_Mari out. So out. Out to work on this, and hopefully not out to lunch._

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AN:[ (art)](http://spelon-berry.tumblr.com/post/160592221613)


	25. What Has Been Done

It gives Viktor a sense of righteous satisfaction to now see Yurio dragged around the shatterdome by his fellow Academy initiate. Not literally dragged, but Yakov's command is indeed the leash that keeps Yurio in pace just slightly behind Otabek Altin, who looks, as always, like he's taking his duty seriously.

Viktor says to Yuuri, "This is good for Yurio, don't you think?", and Yuuri nods, after they've been at the gym and watched Otabek order Yurio around to exercises and machines he's never done. No complaining from the blond kid, and he's sweating and glaring daggers, as Otabek watches stoically and gives orders, but Yurio's doing his best to meet the challenge. Probably out of spite, but that's the best outcome from his disobedience Viktor can think of.

Mila and Sara enter the gym together and both Viktor and Yuuri greet them.

"It's good to see you back," Yuuri says to Sara, giving her a brief hug.

"We'll need you for sure," Viktor says.

"Did you check predictions this morning?" Mila asks. Viktor shakes his head. "There's multiple somethings coming through the breach in three days."

Viktor cocks an eyebrow. "Then no time to waste."

"For us. You're doing great, you two," Mila says, and Sara nods.

"We work well together," Viktor says happily, and Yuuri nods.

They go their separate ways.

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_So Yakov's checking on me like a hawk cause he doesn't believe my I-got-sick-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-had-to-draw-my-own-blood story completely. Gross, because it's taking me forever now to figure what the FRICK happened to Yurio. I absolutely don't trust anyone else to figure this out but . . . at the same time, I wish I could . . ._

_I still really miss Minako, damn, in the name of running a more efficient facility Yakov's sure torn some people apart._

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Viktor lies awake in bed at night planning now.

He has to tell Yuuri something of what he feels for him.

It'll be too quickly evident in the Drift, soon enough, he figures, because they talk smoother, they become one augmented consciousness more easily every time in the Tango.

Hasn't he been obvious?

He takes whatever opportunity he can to send a blush to Yuuri's cheeks. This can be done either by praising Yuuri directly, or, surprisingly, by flattering them as a team.

At any rate, something still holds Yuuri back, at least part of the time. When they walk Makkachin in the evening, when there's a lull, he's honest, but they never seem to talk of the one thing on Viktor's mind. Mainly because Yuuri will say something unique or amazing or enchanting (or all three) and just leave Viktor content with having heard that.

For so long, Viktor has been his job. He's been his title. He's been famous. He hasn't let anyone see him as anything else for fear of - well, for fear, leave it at that for now.

Yuuri takes away all that worry and self-doubt (yes, Viktor Nikiforov, long-time General of the Jaeger Program, will admit, there is self-doubt, though maybe it can't be itemized and only looms threateningly in the hollow of all his trophies). Somehow, he's managed to meet Viktor exactly where he needs to and take the pieces of himself Viktor's offered, look at them, explain them to their owner, return them more whole than when they came. Somehow, he's eased the pain, a bit, of losing Yakov's confidence (though Viktor would've shouldered it, he's undyingly grateful not to have to).

So Viktor swears his resolve to tell Yuuri something of what he understands of himself, one thing he knows for sure. (And soon, because the sapphire-and-gold ring sinking into the deep is still a vivid stamp in his memory).

How to do that is the problem.

At lunch two days before the next Breach opening he and Yuuri take Mari her food, and are treated to a glorious litany of complaints and comparisons of her confinement to the K and Alcatraz. As they're heading out, Mari motions to Viktor, not Yuuri, mouthing something and holding up the number 8 with her fingers so that Viktor gets the idea he must return here at 8 p.m. And without Yuuri.

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"What's this about? Because if it's about breaking you out again, I'm sorry, but-" Viktor says, walking into the K where Mari's hard at work, with a microscope and a bunch of slides and some boring strings of letters and numbers up on her projection screen.

The scientist, sleeves rolled up and hair starting to fall out of her headband, which is slipping back, swivels around in her chair to face him. She quickly glances back at the screen for the time, which reads 8:01 p.m.

"Oh nah," she says as Viktor crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe, half-smiling, ready for a wild explanation of exactly how he's going to help her do something anti-Yakov. He's wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and dark charcoal pants, belted and deep pockets on the sides. He and Yuuri went as requested to the Tango for double-checking dock fittings earlier.

Mari's gonna try and get him to get her a helicopter. Or, ship her whole lab to a top-secret location that of course only _he_ would know about, as former-General-Viktor-Nikiforov. Or, mutiny along _with_ her-

"I'm just wondering. Exactly how gay are you for my brother? Is it like, sorta-gay and you have just this unspoken thing and it's chill? Or is it full-blown, if-he-doesn't-like-me-back-then-I'm-gonna-solo-the-damn-Breach-with-all-the-TNT-money-can-buy-to-prove-my-love, kinda not-so-chill thing?"

Somewhere in the middle of this spiel, Mari's eyes have narrowed to sleuthing slits and Viktor's lost his slyly confident facade.

"I - well," he says, clearing his throat, and earning the slimiest grin from Mari. She's most definitely enjoying having caught him off-guard. Then he drops the pretense and just lets his cheeks go as red as they fucking want to. "I love your brother so much I'm afraid to tell him," he says softly. That's the truth, it is.

Apparently Mari's not satisfied. She's still grinning and looking like a cat who has pushed something glass off the edge of a table.

"Did you get him off the wall because you liked him, not really because we needed another pilot?"

"Both!" Viktor exclaims.

"Did you want to pilot with him because it was _with him,_ not really 'cause you just wanted to pilot?"

"Both!" Viktor repeats, hands in his hair. With each affirmative, Mari's grin creeps up a little more.

"Would you have piloted if Yuuri wasn't with you?"

" _No!_ "

"Do you . . . want me to do some sleuthing on your behalf?"

" _Yes!_ " Viktor says, dropping his arms, palms up in a helpless expression. Mari positively cackles and spins herself around in her chair.

"I, Mari Katsuki, insignificant speck in the food chain that is the Jaeger Program, have Viktor Nikiforov, prime carnivore extraordinaire, at my mercy!"

"Not really, I was planning to tell him anyway." Viktor crosses his arms.

"Oh come on. You'd rather have some assurance he'll take it well," Mari says, leaning forward in her chair.

"Of course," Viktor admits.

"Well, I'll get back to you on that," Mari sighs as if she's a busy woman. She half-swivels back around.

Viktor remains in the door.

"Mari," he says.

"Yes," she says, quarter-swivelling back towards him.

"Do you . . . approve," he says. He hears Mari snuck back a scoff, probably at him asking for _her_ approval.

"Uh, I'm actually rather impressed that you wouldn't take up piloting without Yuuri. I thought that was all you wanted. After you had all you could take of that _terrible, low-life, drudgery_ of a position you had here . . . what was it . . . even whoever cleans the men's bathroom down in the Ranger quarters wouldn't have taken it . . . oh right, _General of the whole damn Jaeger Program._ You'd leave that behind."

Viktor knows Mari's joking around, but he'll jab back in the same pretense.

"I didn't just get bored, it's just that position had no opportunities for advancement. Like punching-aliens-in-the-face sort of advancement."

"Kidding, kidding," Mari waves him off.

"And other opportunities were unavailable in that position, like your brother," Viktor adds.

Mari guffaws but waves a finger at him. "Don't get too confident. I'll put more stock in what Yuuri says. See Yuuri Katsuki for Mari Katsuki's approval. I mean, I'm just his sister."

"You're still his sister," Viktor says. He turns to leave. Stops short. "You know, maybe I might've gotten desperate enough to pilot without Yuuri if things didn't work out. But it would have been my worst mistake. It would have been as good as selling my soul," he says quietly, and then leaves.

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In one of the dressing rooms off the sim room, around 7:45 p.m., two Rangers cool down after an hour-and-a-half stint battling in a cold, virtual, northern tundra.

"This is stupid, we don't need to train all day," the taller one, leaner one, says, wearing the tight black-and-green sensory suit, pulling off a thick grey sweater after he's detached belts and shelved the virtual weapons, mussing his blonde hair.

"I say you do," the shorter, stronger one says, still with his sweatshirt and pants on over the suit, inspecting the equipment they've used. The top of his undercut is messy.

"Yakov makes me your fucking slave," mutters the taller. He looks at the small log screen by the door. "And it doesn't work." He points. The readout says 16 faults.

"Not when all you'll do is argue in the drift. You're a child, Yuri. Grow up. This isn't the Academy." The shorter one stalks over to the taller, who's sitting.

"I am _not_ a child," hisses the taller, anger in his green eyes. "You're the one who never should have made it here! Try to play like we're friends at first and-"

"We were never friends," says the shorter one. "I thought we could be mature and put aside all this . . . competition."

The taller smirks. "Put aside the competition? Oh sure. You're the one who brought it up."

"Because you were clearly using my willingness to help against me."

" _Help?_ Learning to spar your way was just a party trick. You'd like to be better than me. But you never were. No matter how hard you tried." He stands up. "Now that Yakov's gone and put me on your leash, you _think_ you are. You think you are now," he hisses down into the other's face.

"You're a _child._ " The statement is sure and confident. Fists clench.

"Me? Oh no, you're the child here, with this act you're putting on with Mila. As if you two would be drift compatible. You're such a fucking try-hard," the blonde grins. "None of this changes the fact that I'm first ranked and you're second, always have been."

"There aren't any ranks here." The shorter one stands right in front of the seated taller. "If there were, you'd be close to the bottom, chained to even _my_ beck and call," he says in a mocking tone. "If you hadn't wandered off when we three were supposed to be training every night -"

"I left because it made me sick to see you sucking up to that bitch," snarls the blonde, standing up to his full height, now only clad in the skintight bodysuit.

"You must think this dirty mouth of yours makes you seem tough," the shorter says with a sharp twitching smile. "So what, if Mila and I got along so well? Though, I'd like to see you do better."

"She's _nothing,_ " the taller hisses, tensing, grabbing the other, kissing him. He kisses back. They stumble back against the wall beside the rack of weapons, bodies moving and pressing willfully together, fighting for the closeness, for some strange breed of dominance in this violent sleep of emotions which has come, uncontrollably, awake.

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_Now I've got to get Yuuri in here by himself, which is a little easier since he stops by for regular solo visits._

_Damn, I'm tired, and I know I risk messing this ID up . . . but I've just got to finish it . . . wonder if Yurio's still sleeping in the Cherno's reactor . . ._

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_. . . OK it's 2 a.m. and this remix has been on repeat for like 34 minutes but I'm almost done, I know I said that like an hour ago . . . and like 2 hours ago . . . it's sort of familiar but . . . aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh . . . oh excuse me, if only I could leave this prison and go get coffee, speaking of coffee, Yakov, which has nothing to do with coffee . . . wait huh what was I gonna say . . . I'm getting tired . . ._

_. . ._

_. . ._

_. . . oh yeah, if Yakov asks I'll just tell him, since he wouldn't let me analyze this in regular hours I had to do it now. In the middle of the night. When I should be sleeping._

_I need to change the song, but I'm too lazy . . ._

_. . ._

_. . . almost done . . ._

_OK, it's technically finished, I've ID'd this weird amino acid . . . it's definitely something to do with Kaiju, something I've seen snips of in Kaiju so what is it doing in Yurio's blood but at the same time I don't think that's very important cause damn, this looks familiar. It looks so familiar. Like, not the acid itself (and gee, I have a long list of other things to look into after this, cause it won't tell me much by itself) but . . . how you could have. . . why am I so TIRED? I need to see the big picture._

_I need to take a brain break._

_Well, I still gotta beat the Elite Four on Forte._

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_Champion. 29:03. Not bad for a five-pokemon team. Good job, Salad. Now I can probably go back and breed you to get-_

_Holy frick._

_Wait a sec, whoever's listening. Let me check. This is serious. I think I have the files somewhere._

_. . ._

_. . ._

_. . ._

_No, I don't, it's from too long ago. I swear though. I swear this is Sofya's - this is Sofya's work - but how the hell did it -_

_Oh, god. Don't tell me. She was working on this how long before I became her student? Oh, god. Like, a long time. Before she had Yurio, if we're going to assume I'm right, which we have to. Because this is too similar to be some frickin' coincidence._

_What did you do to your son, Sofya?_


	26. Straight for Us

The eve of the next Kaiju attack, Viktor can't sleep and has stolen away and up to be chest-level with the Tango. She stands silent, battle-ready. Lights circling the shatterdome provide a low orange glow. The hallway backlights Viktor more strongly. Mari's taking her own sweet time talking to Yuuri and causing Viktor to stress, caught in the maybe. He keeps thinking of what Chris said. Everyone always likes you back. But this is so much more. There's so much more on the line.

At some point Yuuri joins Viktor. They glance at each other and lean on the railing in silence. Viktor wonders what Yuuri's thinking about. He wishes it might be the same as what's on his mind.

"There's blank spots in the drift," Yuuri says softly.

Viktor turns his posture toward him. "Hm?"

"In you. When you were in the Academy. Yakov's apprentice. There's . . . long gaps. Phichit didn't have anything like that. Do I?"

Viktor shakes his head. "Not that I know of."

"It's not really empty. I just couldn't bring it up in the drift if I wanted to. It's too vaugue. I don't really know what happened then. How you were, then. Memories."

Viktor frowns. "Well, that's concerning, I . . ." He swipes his hair back. Brushing his fingers against the close-shaved under layers, he thinks he might have the answer, something he's overlooked. "Is there anything solid at all in there?"

Yuuri looks down. "You cut your hair."

"Is it somewhere at the beginning of the . . . the blank?"

"Yes," Yuuri says, intent on what answer Viktor's got for him.

"It's not important," Viktor says, to both himself and Yuuri. He's been saying this to himself ever since, and it's worked. "But if you want to know, I think I could explain."

"Of course," Yuuri says.

Well, Viktor would tell him anything.

"I had anorexia," Viktor says. The statement still tastes fadedly bitter, though he'd will it to be as commonplace as admitting any other fault, I failed a calculus test once, I was pretty rude to Yakov after he gave me my first assignment.

Yuuri frowns. "That's the disease where people make themselves throw up?"

Viktor shakes his head. "No, you just don't eat enough."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know," Yuuri says.

"That's fine," Viktor shrugs.

"I'm sorry," Yuuri says.

Viktor finds his hand in a fist. He finds he's thumping it on the railing so that it shakes. "Don't be," he finds himself saying. Yuuri gives him a squint.

"It wasn't serious?" Yuuri asks.

" . . . No, it - it got pretty bad, I guess, not terrible as it could have - that's not the point," Viktor struggles. "It's a sickness, all right. But it doesn't hurt the one who has it, not very much at all." He looks into Yuuri's dark eyes, so soft in the night lighting, just a brightly saturated gleam at the edges from the hallway light, as he half-turns to look in return. "I'm not the one who suffered," Viktor says grimly.

"I'm sure it's not really like that, all the way," Yuuri says.

"Oh, it is." Viktor leans his chin in his hand. "I did terrible things to my parents. I aged them. I became the most - the most selfish creature - I told lies all day most days, I tore their hearts open willfully - and they took it. They were there. Sitting with me at the dinner table for hours, dragging me to the doctor's, to the psychologist's, and all I did was cut my hair so I'd be lighter and ruin my things by hiding food in them and exercise when I was supposed to be sleeping-" His words are starting run together and he's grateful when Yuuri interrupts him.

"Viktor, you were clearly sick. Because you, you, wouldn't do that," Yuuri says.

"Oh, no. Yes. I see that now. I have for a while. But I came out scot-free. And my parents?" Viktor shakes his head. "Sometimes . . . sometimes, Yuuri, I think the Vancouver attack was a mercy. To save them from living with what I did to them-"

Suddenly his voice cuts out all of its own accord and Viktor finds there are tears running down his cheeks. "But, it's over, anyways," he manages, chokingly.

"Oh, Viktor," Yuuri murmurs, and embraces him, wraps his arms around him and hangs on. Viktor doesn't return it, he stands there, trying to get control of himself. Because he's over this. He's done. He doesn't really know why it happened, but it doesn't matter.

"My mind wasn't really my own. Maybe that's why it's blank. I smiled a lot. I smiled the most while I was sick, but it meant nothing," Viktor struggles, regaining himself. Yuuri drops the hug but remains close. He looks up at him.

"You smile now, too," Yuuri says, with his own smile. And Viktor returns it.

"Well, they usually start with yours first," Viktor explains the phenomenon. And Viktor has succeeded in making Yuuri blush again.

His copilot drops away. "Thanks for telling me. I feel better knowing what that's about. I hope you . . . I hope you're OK."

"You know, Yuuri? I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good," Viktor says softly. Because that's something he lost in those years. He lost desire, drive. He lost passion. He lost all preference, all will to choose. But every time he looks at Yuuri, his heart lights on fire and he's certain he'll never fall back to that place again.

He made this choice, and the soul and desire behind it is strong enough he'd make it over and over and over again.

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The eve of the Kaiju attack, everyone is ready. The Breach is predicted to open at 6:30 p.m. or so. The intercept point is already marked off, a safe and certain distance from the Miracle Mile. Scheduled as a double event, so pretty obvious that Otabek and Yurio are getting left behind. Those two seem to be getting along better, Viktor thinks, from what he sees of them at the gym and mealtimes and the sim room. Maybe they're still not talking to each other, but at least the glares Yurio gives Otabek aren't so obviously venomous anymore, and they travel side-by-side instead of Otabek setting their pace in front, as appointed leader.

Viktor's decided to pay Yakov a visit in LOCCENT where he's getting the usual debriefing on breach activity and predictions vs. real-time events.

"With all respect, how many more of these missions until we're ready to shut it down for good?" Viktor asks his commander, his superior, his . . . former mentor.

"As many as need be," Yakov says. He's not got time to answer questions from his Rangers right now. Viktor, dissatisfied with this answer, gives a brief nod to Minako (the first time he's seen her in ages) who's standing at Yakov's side. She gives him a tight-lipped, barely-there smile back, dressed in a plain black dress to the knees, dark blue pumps. Also holds up fingers in a pinching motion. Supposed to mean that they're close, Viktor guesses, to getting Operation Pitfall up and running. Guang-Hong sits in captain's chair, as usual, with Leo standing at his back.

Viktor turns and leaves; he can feel everyone's stares at his back.

Returning to ground floor of the shatterdome, the send-off party starts to gather and there's Yuuri waiting for him.

"Ready for this?" Viktor says, slinging an arm around Yuuri's shoulders. The gesture's comfortable between them now. It gives Viktor a sure hope.

"As ever," Yuuri says, turning to his copilot with a smile, a brighter shade of confidence. (Every time they put a Kaiju in its grave.) For a few moments they're too close not to notice the lack of distance, for Viktor to look into Yuuri's deep brown eyes and marvel at the soul behind them without any reminders of the world outside (a place he'd like to stay and study), but there are a couple aliens to fight and the copilots must pull apart. They head off to drivesuit prep at the announcement over the intercom.

Somedays Viktor still can't get over that this is real life, that it's Yuuri and him doing everything he ever wanted.

Double event: Raiju and Otachi scheduled. They've agreed Mila and Sara can take the Raiju, Viktor and Yuuri the Otachi, if the monsters emerge as predicted. If they can at all get their fists on the Otachi alone, they'll do that and eliminate the greater threat. Either way, both are fast movers and they'll have to make short shrift to back up Yakov's decision not to evacuate Hong Kong, just set an alert.

Enough time buffered that they can walk out and say goodbyes and hang around waiting for the final boarding call. Otabek and Yurio are there to see them off; so is Emil (arm still recovering) but not Mari.

"You'll get to pilot next mission, I'm sure," Yuuri says to the Ranger pair. Otabek's got crossed arms and Yurio just gives Yuuri a shake of his head, with it his long hair. Viktor thinks Yurio seems on-edge as always, but it seems to be less vicious and just a little stranger, a little more appropriate for his current subordinate situation.

Rangers, it's time for docking, Guang-Hong announces over the intercom and they take the lift up and walk the plank to the Tango's cockpit, Mila and Sara a parallel on the other side of the shatterdome. The Cherno is just good enough to run today, but they'll definitely be continuining repairs later. Viktor knows it's not the best way to run a battle, patch it up and get in there, but with the Phoenix taking longer to repair, the Cherno was the best option.

The neural handshake goes through. They lock into the drift. Wordlessly, they converse as the shatterdome opens up and 'copters fly the two metal warriors out to the intercept point in the middle of the waters, not yet too far that Hong Kong isn't visible on the horizon, but it is just a smudge.

Together, their combined consciousness approaches the blank that belongs to Viktor; it's not obvious, here it is, and it is ugly, something you wish you could erase, but it's stuck and glued and useless. They look at it, they feel it, but all it's entrapped is some vestiges of self-hatred and the wrong kind of motivation and so, it's more their better half (Yuuri), that proposes to look onward and upward because you sure as hell can't change the past. Looking at the blank straight in the face cuts Viktor's nerve, but with the suggestion there, he's quick to agree.

_Wasted so much time. . ._

_But we're here now._

Viktor can't wonder too privately in the drift, but they're aware of the blooming bright red-orange sort of feeling, it's stemming from Viktor's soul and confirmed, solidified, they sink deeper into themselves as they move forward.

Back in LOCCENT, Guang-Hong will hit the MEAS key and record waveform samples because these two drift so deeply, it will be worth it to have something to go on, one day, when the program gets the funding to try to take this technology to the next level.

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The Kaiju travel together and time seems to slow as they untwist and scythe up and out of the waves at those two obstacles in their way.

Tango's ready with the chain sword. _We're not fooling around this time. Oh, no. Going straight to what works._

Cherno's crashing her fists together, a huge voltage building up between them. Cherno's not fast but she doesn't have to be, hopefully.

Both Jaegers spot their targets, swing into hopeful strikes; Tango with sword leading and clenched fist lagging, Cherno stocky and solemn with her oddly-shaped helm, readying a death grip, preparing for the full-body tackle as the Raiju leaps at her, crest bristling, streams of water arcing off plated armor.

The feel of a solid hit impacts the Tango pilots' arms as the chain sword catches the Otachi under an arm; it twists, too slowly. The blade has jaggedly impaled the hidden crevasse where the beast's thick wings are stored and now drags against the Kaiju's bone and flesh and the Tango's center of balance, as its huge opponent thrashes to release itself.

Viktor and Yuuri heave upright, trying to go for a two-handed grip: more leverage. Kaiju blue starts swirling into the waves, choppy in the upheaval of battle.

Meanwhile the Z-14s have delivered, Mila and Sara thrown back as they make a fist sandwich of the Raiju's long, croc-like snout. Electricity arcs. They release the creature to regain balance and it's definitely muddled, stunned, as the Cherno rights herself (slowly, as she must).

Otachi whips its pronged tail around the Tango's one leg, underwater, ripping free of the blade with a screeching yowl before the pilots can turn the one-handed hold into two. Bright blue blood flies as the half of the Kaiju's right arm/wing is severed. Of course, that means it's angry now. Jaws go for the non-sword-arm and the Tango finds two of its limbs entangled. The Jaeger, in danger of capsizing, has got to get its stance back with its free leg. Even as pain fires up Viktor's (secondary) arm so he knows the Otachi's teeth have crunched through the protective shielding over Yuuri's energycaster, the pilots give the sword a twirl, leaning back against the grip of the Kaiju, and tilt forward into a jab that would go straight through the base of the Otachi's neck.

Except it doesn't; the Otachi is pure anger, rippling and spitting and biting and flailing. The Kaiju receives a good slash to its bad shoulder and goes, in throes, back into the waves, a chunk of metal hide from the Tango's right arm in its tripartite jaws. Pain sparks through the Tango's pilots, but they shoulder it up together, it's not too bad, but as they start to charge the energycaster -- _damn! --_ it's lost some power connections. 

On the Cherno's side of things, the stocky Jaeger has punted its fists together again, circling slowly and gazing into the waters, waiting for the next attack from its opponents.

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It's no doubt that the Otachi is the biologically superior creature and the Raiju is more of its accomplice, its minion. Maybe the winged Kaiju is partly blinded by rage, but it's smart enough to weigh the pulls of its duties: one, to get rid of this threat, and two, to reach the target. Of course, it doesn't know the reasons why its extra-worldly overlords have programmed this cost-benefit analysis into its veins and neurons, but with a smart snapping of its jaws that let the torn and crumpled metal and wire chunk of the Tango's arm to drift into the deep, it blasts a short signal to the Raiju to follow it. Forsaking their immediate challengers, the pair of Kaiju make off for the target (which beckons both their senses with a stronger pull than it has any Kaiju before), streaming blue blood into the waters, signaling the Otachi's wound. Serious, but not enough to stop it.

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"What are they doing? LOCCENT? LOCCENT?" comes Mila's voice over the comms as both Jaegers turn, the pair of sentinels, warriors, towards their fleeing foes.

Not heading for the harbour? is the Tango pilots' question. Because they didn't spurt off northwest, where the trajectory's always predicted and true. But the Jaegers have got to blindly follow this more southerly direction, they start off through the waves, engaging feet thrusters, syncing to walk, 100% power, because they're definitely slower.

No answer from LOCCENT. Mila prompts them again. Yuuri joins in.

"Guang-Hong, where are they going? We're too slow!"

"Losing sight of the trail!" Mila tags.

"Calibrating prosight lenses to the Otachi's blood, it might take awhile," Sara's voice, low and serious, quick, over the comms.

The Tango strains through the overlay of target frames and stats in her pilots' vision to catch the trail, fighting the waves as best it can to move forward. Stronger opponent than any Kaiju; massive inertia.

"Do we submerge, LOCCENT?" Viktor asks urgently. "Can't see a thing."

"We're trying to track-" comes a tech's voice, but Yuuri interrupts, as he flicks off the statistical overlays in their vision:

"Wait, there it is - 250 meters at about 2 o'clock -" - and both the pilots have thought it together, realized it much before they say it, "- they're heading for you. They're heading for the shatterdome."

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The shatterdome's on the east coast of Hong Kong Island. The location gives it easy access to the Miracle Mile and also a guardian's position, to keep anything nefarious from entering the strait that separates the island from the mainland and the many prosperous ports and cities lining both coasts. One of the first domes to be built, it fell into disuse during the glory days, but now is the storehouse of the Jaeger Program's last vestiges of life, the cornerstone that should hold humanity through to see the other side.

It's never been a target itself.

Are the Kaiju getting smarter?

There's a pinch of silence from LOCCENT, then the millisecond burst of fuzz and Guang-Hong's voice.

"-You're right. Submerge! Pursue them!" His orders clip off. Presumably Yakov's locking down the base, getting all the 'copters and pilots and warehousing/materials staff off the outer deck, shutting down the bay, closing ports.

Sure, the shatterdome's constructed to be a layered, sturdy fortress. After all, it has to withstand the footfalls of multiple Jaegers. But, it'll be no match for the Otachi's spit, this the Tango knows to be true, and those Rangers say as much to their battle partners as both Jaegers fall beneath the waves, everything seals, jets spurt, speed increased.

"Got a read on them, they're gaining on us," Sara's voice comes. But now the Tango can follow the lone bright trail of Otachi blood.

"How long do we have?" from Viktor.

"Four minutes at most before they touch the dome, it'll take us a good 7 - 10."

"Yes, but they're slowing," comes LOCCENT over the comms, some tech. There's commotion in the background.

"Chopped off an arm," Viktor explains, "The Otachi's."

"The shatterdome can hold them off until you arrive."

"Not if the Otachi feels like puking on you," Viktor fires back. LOCCENT goes quiet.

"Carrying any extra weight?" Mila asks as there's a muffled CHUNK and the Cherno ejects both her nickel rolls, which balloon up with white floaters to be recovered at the surface later. Losing those heavy cylinders of metal give the Cherno a burst of speed.

Our chain sword, but that's the best hope of killing these things, the Tango's pilots think. Actually, it's becoming more like, My chain sword. Who's the singular owner? Well, it's both of them, the one of them.

"Sadly, no," Viktor says.

"I don't know, how heavy are you, Viktor?" Yuuri says.

Viktor's caught by surprise as the light shock of mirth colours the drift, and they're both laughing sharply.

"Now's no time for banter," Yakov's thunderous tone comes over the comms.

"We're still not fast enough," Sara says as the Cherno draws level with the Tango, traveling faster now. "They'll get there at least a minute or two ahead, unless they slow."

"How's the Phoenix?" Yuuri says urgently. "Surely you can even station it just in the dock and use the K-missiles."

"Keep going," is all Yakov will say and LOCCENT then goes silent, just leaving the dark blur of ocean behind the bright overlays of Viktor and Yuuri's vision.

"We're not much use, we can punch and grab, but there's no way we're using the Tesla fists under here," Mila says in private to the Tango.

"Do what you have to," is all the Cherno gets in return.

Right arm damaged, energycaster charged 32%, the female AI reminds them. Unable to charge further.

They're holding up OK, the Tango pilots confirm with each other in the drift.

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The two former cadets, the shorter darker one, the taller blonde, stand together at the entrance of LOCCENT as soon as the emergency lockdown lights start flashing and alarm starts to whoop.

"We'll go if you're sending the Phoenix," the taller announces.

The Marshal, stature emphasized by a no-nonsense long black coat, turns from the streamlined chaos that is LOCCENT. The biologist is nowhere to be seen, no voice to give insights on whether the Otachi's spit is a big enough danger. But the head of analysis says,

"The Otachi's acid was able to melt halfway through a skyscraper, and that was when it wasn't aiming in particular. We're made of similar materials here. The dome is metal framework."

"We have our basic defense weapons," the Marshal says; he's already ordered PPDC soldiers to man the large cannon-style guns ringed around the shatterdome.

"One volley from the Otachi, and those could be gone," the mathematician says.

"Could? Where's Mari?" the Marshal says rhetorically, clenched teeth and deep frown.

"Sir, if we want the Phoenix in, we need to get them into the ConnPod now!" Guang-Hong's saying.

The Marshal looks to the drift psychologist at the LOCCENT head's back, who gives a nod.

"Now's no time to be looking into the intricacies of compatibility."

The Marshal turns to the pair of untested Rangers.

"Report to the Phoenix, and get to B dock. All I want is enough cooperation between the two of you to separate every bit of that Kaiju from every other bit."

Swiftly the pair salutes and departs.

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"30 seconds," says Sara. She's been giving all-too-predictable updates. The Cherno and Tango are catching up only because the Kaiju are slowing; but they're still a half minute behind, enough to glimpse the tantalizing dark splotches and green glow of the Raiju's spines ahead of them as Kaiju blue continues to film past them from the Otachi's severed limb.

The Tango has, Viktor-Yuuri has, decided to draw sword and run the thing through, hopefully, before it can climb up or else spit its way in through the underwater B dock.

There's not too much confidence.

But then a voice clicks into the comms:

"Phoenix is sealed and waiting in B-dock, firing K-missiles in 20 . . 19 . . . 18 . . ."

As the countdown begins, and they recognize Otabek Altin's serious tone, there's a surge of hope.

"Good on you, Yakov," Yuuri says.

"He had to," mutters Viktor back, just expounding on what's in the drift.

"You're patched up enough to seal?" Yuuri says, patching into the comm to talk to the Phoenix's pilots.

"Hope so," comes the stringent, sharp tone of Yurio, over his copilot's steady countdown.

"10 . . . 9 . . . 8. . . "

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The B-dock doors open, the two Kaiju speed on, sure enough there's blue flooding to the swelling throat of the Otachi as it prepares to gargle open its hidden weapon. Oh, the Otachi's very confident. Sometimes pain will do that. The Raiju loops around its larger master as they go forward, hopeful in imminent success. But even though it seems like there's an open portal to the target which excites the Otachi even more, against the backlighting, warm glow filtering through the murky waters, a black, angular figure stands there, fists clenched and at its sides.

So close to its goal, the Otachi releases a jet-stream of blue acid forward - just as there are a number of popping puffs and objects hurtle the opposite way to meet the bioweapon.

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The Tango's sword undulates unsheathed, snaps and locks into that jagged straightedge. They're coming straight up to the B- dock opening where they can see their fellow Jaeger standing, lone figure in the way, obscured by the pair of threats. Lining up the strike, it'll go straight through the damned creature. Just what happens after is questionable. Whether the spit will obliterate the K-missiles before they explode and continue to eat up the distance and eventually the chest and core of the Phoenix -

But, no time. There's a retrograde thrust as Viktor-Yuuri pushes the blade ahead of them, charging, jets blasting them so they cut through the heavy waves.

Explosions thunder dully as the Otachi's spit meets the dotted army of K-missiles heading for it. The blast ripples out, shoving the Phoenix back against the closed and lighted doors of the port, lobbing the Kaiju itself backwards against and through the Tango's blade.

Force of the blast surges and the beast's soon-to-be carcass thunks into the Tango's chest and for a moment it's just a rush, blue and orange melding together in rushes so they lose the complementary-color effect.

Confused seconds later they're desperately looking for balance, jets flunk out and flicker back on - turns out they're erupting up to break the surface as the waves explode with the force of the missiles below. Straining against the weight of the Otachi, Viktor-Yuuri maneuver it off their blade with a twist of balance, jets blasting, and use the waves as a cushion, falling outward from the blast.

Water flops outward and releases back inward, ocean angrily setting back to a calm - the Raiju's still out there, they think for a second, but then the Cherno's up above the waves and short-circuiting the Raiju's ugly head for one good, final time.

 _Phew,_ the Tango pilots think, after a moment, the reality check. _Danger averted_.

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The Tango and Cherno walk themselves the short distance back up to base, where their pilots pop their helmets off and are aided in dismount. There's a quick celebratory group hug between Viktor, Yuuri, Mila, Sara.

"At least we didn't have to get bored with the trip all the way back," Mila laughs, tossing her red-dyed undercut over to one side. A wind's kicked up as the sunset starts to blaze. Already there are land and sea vehicles approaching the location of the Otachi carcass, dropping BlueRolls into the waves to try and negate some of the blood that's poisoned the waters.

They re-enter and go into the shatterdome, received with a very relieved but still on-edge and questioning group; it's sparse, and there's still commotion; the Phoenix slowly rises to ground level, brought up from B dock.

"What's going on?" Mila says. They all strain to see as the ConnPod remains where it is, no ejection of the pilots. The manual bridge releases from the side of the shatterdome, controls in LOCCENT lock it in place, but from inside the helm, red lights flash. The chest of the Phoenix is very smoked, charred and blown off, still dripping water, and some of its armor that was facing the blast looks damaged as well.

"The Jaeger was pretty damaged from the hit, they'll have to manually override the submersion lock," explains a tech as he hurries past.

In a few tense minutes, the side hatch on one side finally slides open and out come the two pilots, dressed in the black-white Phoenix drivesuits.

They stumble out, but don't look to be too badly off.

Cheers and claps erupt spontaneously as the two pilots take the lift down.

Yuuri just looks at Viktor as they head off to get out of the weighty, unwieldy drivesuits.

"Are the Kaiju coming for us next time too?"

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"That was intense," mutters Yurio as Otabek exits drivesuit prep. They're both back in casual-athletic clothes.

There's only a little tuck at the corner of ever-stoic-Otabek's mouth.

"I thought it was mild, compared to . . . cleaning up twice in the change rooms."

Yurio's face goes an angry red, half his hair hanging down over an eye as usual.

"You didn't have to fucking make me come," he says.

They're heading to the mess hall.

"Anyways, a good first drift," Otabek says.

Yurio's arms remain crossed as they have been since he left the drivesuit room.

"Uh, Otabek, I'm going to talk to Mari after food," he says to his warden.

Otabek looks at him.

Yurio lifts his chin, but not so much, and glares, but not so much.

"Fine," Otabek says.


	27. The Possibility

 

 

 

_So here I am, finally got something to do, crews fished remains out of the water and Yakov wants (demands) to know why the Kaiju came for_ us _this time. And I'll be damned if I have a clue! All I can do is feverishly run all the usual sequences on the usual samples, three at a time and trying to keep them straight, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. I've long shoved Minako's chalkboards over to a side and I'm creating a mind map. Lotsa pins and clipping and markers and thread on thumbtacks, you know, that sort of thing? - ever since Yurio said he's sleeping in the nuclear reactor._

_Bits and pieces everywhere. He's just one strange kid. It takes considerably longer to sequence his genetic code than the Kaiju's, especially because I don't know what I'm looking for or where to look. Just that Sofya did something. For sure. And there's stuff popping out that look . . .well, not exactly human. I gotta keep my head on, otherwise I'll mix up Yurio's shit with this new Raiju and Otachi material. It's that creepy. I got Yuuri to grab me this old nuclear radiography machine and I'm trying to rig it up into something to see what exactly happens inside when Yurio sleeps in what should have given him cancer 160 times over by now. Damn, like, I hope . . . I hope he'll be OK, I hope what Sofya did . . . like . . . huh. I guess Yurio's not dead yet, and I can't find any obvious radiation poisoning signs in his blood. But you know what would help? Sofya's old research files. Which there's about a 0.0005% chance of me getting my hands on any time soon._

_And Yuuri. So I talked to him last night. He came to talk to me as usual and read a letter he was gonna send back home._ Yuuri, that sounds like a newspaper article. No, worse. It sounds like the blurb on the back of a shampoo bottle that tries to entertain you for a couple minutes while you're taking a shit, _I told him. Seriously, put some heart into it for Mom and Dad. Their letter wasn't much better, he complained, and ok, well, he does come by it naturally. Then I asked him straight-up_ do you have feelings for Viktor? _and shoved my face in the microscope so it wouldn't be all awkward while he was swivelling back and forth there on the chair._

_He was all like,_ no we're just copilots! _I mean, at least he didn't say 'friends', I woulda hurled a nice chunk of acid-exposed exoskeleton at him straight from the containment box. So I was like,_ damn Yuuri do we need to get you new glasses? 'cause if you can't see the signs - _and he was like, well Viktor does enjoy my company or something like that. I was like, yeah you guys spend most of your time together, I know that's what copilots do, and Yuuri admitted that they're pretty close and they 'talk about stuff' or whatever that means for a couple of Rangers like them and they know each other pretty well by now._

So what _if_ Viktor has more out for you than just the general copilot sentiment? _I asked and Yuuri bluffed on a bit with his whole_ I'm-just-a-common-pilot-and-he's-former-General _but I was like, don't you see, Yuuri? Former! Exactly! He left that for you! Surely you know by now it was no joke, he wasn't using you or -, and Yuuri was like,_ no, of course not, I understand that now, but I still don't know why he would do that, or why he's here, _and I got so damn frustrated, like, Yuuri! Do you hear yourself? The answer is right there! Right there!_

_But then he just kinda looked down and said,_ You know, the Knifehead incident will never happen again, _and that's just some bullshit right there. Cause I know what that means, it means my stupid stubborn brother isn't gonna give it the_ chance _to happen again. He's still not over what happened to Phichit. He'll let Viktor get close, but not too close. Cruel, Yuuri! You'll crush the man's heart! . . . and I said,_ Yuuri, you can't live your life like this, _and he said,_ maybe if this weren't my life I could, _and I was like, yeah, I get it, people die, the Jaeger program's no form of stability, but . . . but that doesn't mean you stop trying. Doesn't mean you can't find the calm in the storm._

_Yuuri stood up to leave and I'm sure he's been mulling this over on his own cause otherwise you be damn well sure he wouldn't have mentioned this, but he said,_ Phichit and I never spent _this_ much time together, but still, there was a glimmer at the edges of his eyes and something in the way he'd look at me right after we got out of drift . . . and I never asked him if they meant anything but they started to, to me, and then he died. Then we died.

_And then my brother just leaves me on that and disappears to bed._

_God, I guess, I guess he'd still be torn up about it then. I guess I get it. I don't know what Viktor'll do. I told him after they came back. Well, I told him mostly everything. I didn't have the heart to tell him the last bit. I didn't even know! Damnit, Yuuri. Huh. Viktor just looked pensive and left. I don't know. I don't know._

_I think I trust him, though._

_I think I trust Viktor. I think he's a better man than we'll all admit._

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This is the biggest meeting of the Jaeger program Viktor can remember since the re-opening of the Hong Kong shatterdome. All the pilots pairs are in attendance, techs, LOCCENT, Leo, Minako and her whole team, and - this is what makes it certain - even Mari's there.

Yakov lays out Operation Pitfall just as all of them have expected.

"1.2 megatons of TNT straight to the throat. 13 days from today, the optimum time to get ourselves in but as small as the throat of the Breach can be to maximize damage. Analysis task team predicts certain success if we get to that point, estimated just one minute of travel at maximum vertical thrust down the Breach."

The entire boardroom has Yakov's undivided attention. On either end of the table, dual projection screens reveal additional details and mapped routes.

"Which brings me to the Rangers attending this mission."

Everyone knows it's pretty obvious who should go, especially since Yurio and Otabek reportedly passed drift compatibility testing yesterday evening, but Yakov's become unpredictable.

"In the Phoenix Fist, Yuri Plisetsky and Otabek Altin. In the Cherno Alpha, Mila Babicheva, Sara Crispino. The Tango, Katsuki Yuuri and Viktor Nikiforov."

Viktor lets out an inaudible sigh of relief through his nose. Yuuri gives him the slightest tilt of the head in agreement.

"The Tango will be carrying the payload. Pilots will be in constant contact with LOCCENT to eject at the opportune second. In the case of an emergency, our engineering special unit will ensure the payload can be transferred to the other Jaegers."

Viktor and Yuuri feel the attention of the room shift towards them. Yurio cuts this with a sharp,

"Why them?"

He's got his arms crossed and leaning back in his chair. Otabek sits straight and silent beside him.

Yakov doesn't pay Yurio a cent of attention which forces the kid to continue:

"Why not us? We're the new blood. We're expendable."

Victor _does_ wonder why Yakov would let him and Yuuri take the money shot, get the glory, if this all works. (Because it's definitely sour enough between the Marshal and the former General that the Marshal won't give Viktor anything if he doesn't have to.) The chance of failure must be larger than Yakov's reporting (well, it always is, but it must be by a fairly big margin), if he'll take this risk and keep Yurio safe from the center of it all.

Yakov gives Yurio a brief look and aims to resume speaking on topic, but surprisingly, there's Otabek half-raising his hand.

"Excuse me," he says, words dancing with his accent, yet heavy, "but in training, I have studied the specifications of the build of the Phoenix Fist. I believe that its top-hatch ejection system is most fail-safe of all the Jaegers in terms of underwater deployment, and that it is also the fastest underwater traveller, if the payload could be equipped in place of the K-missile set."

Everyone is silent for a bit. This is more words in one place than Viktor has heard from the cadet all his time here.

"Have you looked into that possibility? . . . Marshal," Viktor says, chin in a hand. "Giving Yurio and Otabek a chance to-"

Yakov's expression stiffens. "I don't justify my decisions to you," he says. And then, like nothing happened, he's back to his own train of thought.

"We don't yet have solid details on what type of Kaiju and what category will be resisting our efforts that day. But we will _not._ Fail. This will be the end."

"In the meantime," Yakov continues, "Guang-Hong has been in charge of preparing an expanded simulation for all six Rangers to get to work together. You will also report to de la Iglesia for pre-mission evaluation. I expect full effort from everyone here. I expect this war to end."

Yakov lays a fist heavily down on the table and there is a short, strong round of determined applause.

When they leave, Viktor feels for the first time like everyone is used to him now. He's just a Ranger. If anyone gives him a glance as they walk away, it's more reminiscent of Yakov's attitude towards him. And in cases like this, it hurts a little. Because all he wants is the success of the mission. All he wants is for Yakov to stop playing Yurio's guardian-

Tension that's crawling up his back suddenly bubbles away as Yuuri puts a hand just under, between his shoulderblades.

"You keep trying, you can't break the habit, can you?" Yuuri half-smiles at Viktor.

"I just want everything to be better," Viktor sighs and pushes his hair back.

"Me too," Yuuri says. But he sounds as at peace as ever.

Viktor feels drawn, and maybe it's because of what Mari told him, what Yuuri purportedly feels. Like he's closing himself off, shutting up the core of him. Viktor wrestles with this idea. Oh, for sure, they're very good friends. They comfortably walk, sit, fight, talk together. More than friends, they're copilots, they know so much more about each other from the drift. Viktor's held a sobbing Yuuri in his arms, he remembers, though it seems long ago. And maybe those tears have dried, but they've set. (Some part of him that wonders how close Yuuri and Phichit were, and has limited the assumption up till now, wavers. But it's over, anyways.)

Yuuri is the one who loves Viktor most. He 's certain, in his care, his honesty, his words. Viktor could be a janitor and, well, everything still plays out the same in that alternate universe. Yet, it just makes Viktor want more. Yet, the fact that nothing moves further constricts his heart and gives him a feeling of time running out, more than any pressure he's felt when he held a good portion of the world's fate in his hands for so many years.

After learning the mechanics of the new sim program, dinner, outside laps with Makkachin, shower and bed, Viktor's lying awake, throttled as ever with the certainty that Yuuri and him, their souls were made for each other.

And he realizes it really doesn't depend on what Yuuri does, because he must know it, he must read it in the drift (because _they_ do), and as long as that's for sure, Viktor is helpless.

Viktor will do anything and everything for Yuuri. It's natural. It's survival, love, life. He doesn't really understand it, except that it's reality. No war on another universe can change this, so certainly Viktor can't. And he wouldn't. He wouldn't have it any other way.

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{Her days are brightened by the visitor again, an interruption to her regular activites. She's replaced all the drawings along the windowed, curtained wall since last time he came by.

Sadly, no one could tell her for sure if the visitor is _dear Yura._ She remembered, she did, to ask мама. But she didn't know. Poor мама, and she smiles, мама is so . . . the thought drifts away.

But the guest returns and it doesn't matter if it _is_ Yura or not, well, of course it is. She can softly press her fingers to the glass, her white dress brushing the thick red drapes with gold patterns on them, her brush and ink stone forgotten for now.

He's very tall and she feels very glad. She's glad he is мама's guest. Her face hurts from smiling. It's so quiet in her wood-floored room, long and narrow. The muffled voices from outside are especially enchanting, though she can barely make out what they say and doesn't care to. They talk about the _Kaiju,_ which loom close around the edges and core of her mind, something like imprints which she's freed to go but remain yet. Well, sometimes yet, мама will take her into the gallery and things feel a bit more like home for awhile. (But that's tiring.)

_\- They came for the shatterdome for the first time._

_\- Aboveground?_

_\- No, underwater. Straight at me in the Phoenix Fist._

Her dear Yura, he's grown so.

_\- How long until the brain is ready?_

_\- When is the Pitfall operation?_

_\- 13 days._

_\- It will be ready. I would like more specifics._

All this chatter is meaningless to her.

_\- When we have more time, let us have a proper talk, Yura._

_\- Hm._

Maybe she will be invited to the talk. Oh, she would love to.

As he leaves, there is мама's elegant hand on his back, sweeping out in her long red, patterned dress, gold-feathered boa, but мама casts a look back beyond the glass at her, dark from the other side.

She returns to her art. With another view, the likeness draws closer to reality. It must replace one of the black-inked visages sketched, that paper the wall. She may spend the afternoon (or morning, or evening, or day) deciding which looks the least like him, which to replace. This pleases her, this is a welcome drudgery.}

[ spoiler art ](http://spelon-berry.tumblr.com/post/160592221613)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I have successfully outlined the whole story. Technically there will be like 9 more chapters or something. We'll definitely hit 100K words! now to get the motivation to write it....


	28. Ghost

_Sorry I left you without a_ Mari, out _last time. I just had to go confirm what I thought I saw. And I did. I took my tag off, left it in my bunk so maybe they'd think I was sleeping, and snuck out at like, 2 a.m. I knew it was gonna be super busy in the shatterdome with repairs on the Phoenix and continuining on the Cherno. But I managed to take a ride down to the basement unnoticed, snuck half around the dome on the underdeck, pretty easy to find the core containment units. The Cherno's weird that way: since the pilots are close to the core, and there's access anyways, it's been built so that you gotta do open-heart surgery to fix stuff inside. While that's going on, you just move the reactor out to containment._

_Follow the string of yellow danger sides and thick wires to the HAZARD-marked door, got a zig-zag interlock and it's a couple feet thick._

_I had to wrack my brains to remember where the tech access is; it's just a closet into a dingy room with protective suits. That was locked for sure, and I didn't have my key card. But that door's so old, as old as the Cherno, it needs a real key. And I happened to have a couple hairpins jammed into my headband for extra help, tangled in my runaway mess of grown-out roots._

_Bam, I was in._

_So I shrugged on a suit even though I had no intention of going in there. Someone was operating the big metal sander upstairs and there was this really loud background grinding noise. I started to have second thoughts about going here to look for Yurio first. Maybe I shoulda tried his room. How can anyone sleep with this? Especially cause it's intermittent._

_I banged on the door with the bright yellow (though peeling) "DO NOT ENTER unless wearing proper PPE" sign, with the radioactive poisoning warning. Out of curiosity I jiggled the handles. Unlocked, sure. I mean, who in their right minds would go in here._

_No response. Then I remembered it was actually double doors. I checked just in case, my suit was sealed up. Now the head mask. I didn't want to use the row of wheels by the suit hangers to turn on the oxygen flow yet. Someone might catch onto that. If it wasn't double doors, by my new memory, I could just back out real quick._

_Feeling uncomfortable because of my last experience while in one of these full-body suits, I took a breath, popped the seal shut, and opened the doors with a frightening squeal. Good thing the metal grinder was still going._

_Sure enough, a secondary little foyer, just a bare metal four-walled-deal. The real last set of doors blaring with warnings as well: in case you didn't get the message, you'll be_ so _dead if you go in here without protection. Well, that's the intended meaning. I opened my helmet seal._

 _I banged on those. Yelled_ Yurio! _a few times. Kept banging. Hand on the doorhandle because I realized my seal was open and Yurio would probably just jerk open the door._

_Which he did, dull yet saturated glow of the reactor in the back, edges swallowed in darkness. "Close-the-door-then-come-out-after-I'm-out," I said in what was left of my exhale and I promptly stopped breathing, popped my seal closed, shut the door he'd opened, exited back out the first set of doors, and closed them._

_Yurio came out in several seconds, hair messed up, sure enough in sleep clothes (the pants were patterned with Siamese cats), looking very grumpy and annoyed to have been interrupted. I sighed and took off the suit. Normally, I'd be very scared of a kid who's been dosed with that much radiation, but from what I know of Sofya's research and what I can see in her kid, he's a perfect sponge. Like a Kaiju. Well, on long-and-low doses._

_I didn't have time to let him get a word in edgewise. I asked him if he knew why the Kaiju came for us this time. And from the intesifying of the look on his face and the way his eyes went sideways I knew he had some kinda clue. I needed to know. I would go CRAZY if I didn't find out how the first occurrence of real Kaiju-human communication had happened._

_"The attack before this one, I was just standing there in the lobby waiting and I just felt them come through the drift," he told me, still glowering._

But _how_ did you know, _I asked him. I gave him a whole bunch of options for how he might have processed this awareness but all he could give me was the fact that it wasn't a mental or emotional awareness, more physical. Which made sense. Then I asked him about the most recent time._

 _He said he got excited when the Kaiju got closer. He said they felt more real. He said he didn't know what he would have done if he weren't drifting with Otabek. I asked him like, if he didn't want to fight them? He almost took my head off for that. "No, it just made me more aware or something," he'd said._ OK, but the important thing here is, are they coming for _you? I asked him. He'd shrugged and said something about going back to sleep._

_I was getting frustrated. Look, Yurio, I'm a scientist for crying out! I'm not some damn bureaucrat! Yakov hates me! You can tell me! I won't kick you out on the spot! I can't! And so he was all just some angsty teen "maybe, if I can kinda feel them they can probably feel me". But a maybe's all I need. I was still trying to figure out why the event before last, the Kaiju didn't head for the shatterdome - they went for Hong Kong as usual - but then I realized Yurio had been there, skipping Ranger duty, and it all made sense._

So then what happens when you're right there during Operation Pitfall and the breach opens, and the most Kaiju we've ever seen in one place swarm out from it? _I asked him. He said nothing, of course. But I told him what could happen._ If they _were_ coming for you this last time, they'll come for you then. You'll damn well be smushed. Crushed. Dead.

_Of course, he was skeptical. You-don't-know-that sort of thing. And his skepticism made me a little less sure. But definitely not skeptical._

_He got in close and jabbed a finger at me, don't you_ dare _tell Yakov, or he won't let me go at all._

 _I threw up my hands and kicked him away after a few seconds when he wouldn't get out of my face and looked like he was, under all that acerbic threatening tough scary guy sort of vibe, scared of Yakov's judgement. Ha, it was a pretty good kick and I think he got the message, holding his shoulder. He was like, what the fuck was that for?! and I was like,_ you're an idiot, of course I wouldn't tell Yakov, I don't like him just as much as you do and I _need that Kaiju brain! And then he seemed to remember he didn't need to threaten me because he has that hanging over my head. He just kinda went "oh". Then, "I guess fucking Viktor-and-Yuuri can carry the payload then, if the Kaiju will just go to me and Otabek."_

_I saw the strategy in that. I told him he should consider telling Mila and Sara, so they know they're part of the distraction. Which I guess they will be anyway. I mean, I won't tell Yakov about what I think will happen, but I won't let Yurio go in there on a suicide mission either._

_I crossed my arms. "You have something against my brother still?"_

_Yurio gave me a half-snarl. "No, of course not. He was just a useless copilot."_

Only with you, _I pointed out. Yurio didn't contest anything, so I took that as some kind of admission on his part._

_"It's Viktor who's a fucking idiot. He gets to be Yakov Feltsman's protege, and practically takes over command, lines everything up perfectly to shut down the breach, then ditches to cross shit off his bucket list. Makes Yakov get more bitchy than he already is and more fucking protective of me. Everthing would be working a lot fucking better if Viktor were still General. But no."_

_Oooh, interesting. I wished right then Minako were still in the K because this is prime shatterdome gossip. Sorta makes sense, after Yakov falls out with his long-time student he's gotta clamp down on the only other one he's taken under his wing. I asked him if he could still get out to Black Tiger to negotiate the brain. He said he needed one more trip, he was lining it up for two days from now when Yakov will have a meeting with the UN. I told him I'd get him the promised intel before then. No further clarification on the brain drift date. I guess if Yakov gets to test his too-simple plan, he gets to. Sure, if the breach doesn't seal, that's cool with me. My job's extended, I keep getting to study fresh Kaiju samples. Terrible as sequencing is, it's way better than working with fruit flies. (God, that undergrad.) I just . . . I just feel like someone's gonna die, if Yakov gets his way._

_Yurio was really done by then. But I thought of something and asked him if Otabek would know anything of this, from the drift? And if so how likely was he to tell Yakov? Yurio said he thinks that he just goes to do stupid unimportant stuff in Hong Kong. And that he can't pick up on any of the Kaiju communication stuff, because Yurio doesn't even really have a grasp on it himself._

_I let him go. I guess I believe it, they're really new copilots anyways._

_Well, while I was up and sneaking around, I went down to Yuuri's room and barged in to wake him up. I stood there like the good righteous advice-giving sister I am and told him,_ Yuuri, you better give your copilot a chance if you're considering it at all because if you're heading into the breach with the payload - well - _well, he just better, it's pretty obvious._

_So anyways, now I'm telling myself all this again to try and not feel so guilty as I sit here, trawling through the Pitfall plans on a masked IP. Yakov doesn't deserve my loyalty, I'm saying. I'm sticking to that._

_What if Minako were still here? Hoo boy, I'd be getting away with none of this stuff. But I still miss her._

_Mari out for now._

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Viktor feels sure that he's confusing Yuuri. There's a dancing, snapping sparkle that closes off their conversations, the few words of where-to-next during these intense couple weeks of getting ready. Viktor gives Yuuri as much of his adoration as he has, hangs onto his smiles, but lets Yuuri take all he's been taking and nothing more. Because Viktor's living his epiphany now, that he doesn't need to force something out of Yuuri or draw a response. He's sure that to bring them to their destiny, he needs only to sit with his commitment, he needs only to embrace the surety that his soul's already sold to Yuuri. And it'll come through slowly, he knows, in the drift. Nothing can't keep happening forever. And, well, if it does, Viktor could accept it. He could stay here. He doesn't have to forge his will to this goal, something he once set, to stay close at Yuuri's side. He'll just do it. He has to. It's in him. It _is_ him.

And what makes Viktor sure this stagnation won't last too long? Because Yuuri's expression softly hovers, confused. Maybe he's expecting more advances. Maybe he has been. And now Viktor's stepping back, letting him take the lead of the dance, if he will, or at least draw alongside. So the void is taunting. But the very fact that Yuuri appears to sense it, and he gets bolder, looking at Viktor longer with a contemplative expression, unabashed to engage himself so, gives Viktor not _hope,_ because he doesn't need that anymore, but just a surety. A knowing. They _will_ get there.

Predictions is busy, and with the Phoenix and Cherno needing heavy repairs, the Tango is going to get sent out to a peppering of single events, category fours all-round, roughly about 5 days before the planned operation. They're both excited for it, it settles around their merged consciousness in the sim room, it runs along with them on the shatterdome's track.

One night about 10 days before Pitfall, Yuuri shows Viktor family photos, of his mother and father and young Yuuri and Mari (Viktor has a good laugh at little Mari, chubby and with an angry pout that looks a lot like Yurio's constant expression) and Hasetsu. There's even one Viktor fishes out from behind another slot, Yuuri just before he was put in the Academy, in juniors in figure skating. Viktor teases Yuuri for an explanation.

"It's just before a competition, nothing special," Yuuri says. There's Minako in the photo too, with a banner and Japanese characters. (Viktor recognizes Yuuri's name. That's the only Japanese kanji he knows.) Minako certainly hasn't aged a speck. "Minako came from University just to see me skate. Really badly. I fell twice and under-rotated once and stepped out of the jump twice-"

"The costume is very nice," Viktor says with a laugh. It's a dark blue suit-styled thing, with sparkly silver accents and white, drapy cuffs. Just the combination of that with Yuuri's anxious expression and obviously forced smile is so _cute_.

"No it's not," Yuuri says, ripping the photo back from Viktor.

"Did you have any other costumes?" Viktor asks.

"Of course."

"Pictures?" Viktor asks.

The corner of Yuuri's mouth pulls down in what Viktor now knows is him stopping a smile. Yuuri has put his glasses back on after having them off for most of the evening. Viktor asked him earlier why sometimes he doesn't wear anything for his vision, at least around the shatterdome, when the handicap won't endanger him. _I mean, wouldn't you rather see everything?_ And Yuuri had shaken his head. _It just reminds me that everything is alright as it is._

Viktor had stopped walking then - they were just coming down from the Tango's helm, to test out a new visual feed (Viktor couldn't care less when they move some numbers there or change the colors over here, but Yuuri will give a very thought-out response) and let Yuuri circle around the 12th-floor deck solo, hand on the rail, lit by the ambients and spotlamps and flying sparks on the Phoenix's chest. He had to stop and think and store this away and remember to himself just how he's never known anyone like Yuuri and he never will.

The picture that Yuuri puts in Viktor's lap now is Yuuri and his mother in their house. (Yuuri's mother looks very sweet and like she would feed you a lot of good food; Viktor is sure he'll enjoy it when they meet someday.) Both make the two-fingers _peace_ sign to the camera. "I never wore the costume, just had it made," Yuuri says.

"Well," is all Viktor can say for the time being.

The costume is black, but some of it is solid color and some is just a dark mesh. On the chest, black straps criss-cross the sheer material, slashing diagonal. There are shining, metallic shards swooping down one shoulder and to the waist. Some half-skirt peeks red from its inside. To Viktor, it reminds him somewhat of a Jaeger (those metal beasts) and their flesh pilots, hidden within. Of course, Yuuri's younger in the picture, but doesn't look like he's ever had an awkward teenage phase.

Viktor switches his glance to compare to older Yuuri, _now_ Yuuri: wearing a loose dark blue shirt that catches and hangs smoothly on the round of his deltoids and curve of his pecs as he sits with usual good posture, leaning only slightly. Black hair smooth, slightly tousled, and shining sparingly in the warm bunker lights.

Yuuri looks good in fucking _anything._ Fancy figure-skating costume or day-to-day Ranger clothes. (Though, how about _now_ Yuuri in the costume? God, Viktor can't think about that here.)

Yuuri catches this gaze and looks back, that new, accepting, mildly wondering kind of look.

" _Well,_ it's late," Yuuri says, teasing Viktor's incomplete sentence.

"Sure is," Viktor says, and flops back on the bed (Yuuri's bunker, his bed).

Yuuri pushes him, but Viktor stays put, fake-snoring.

Bad decision. Yuuri pulls him by his legs so that sudden Viktor is hanging upside-down, slung over Yuuri's back, and he's being carted by force back to his own room. Of course Viktor knows Yuuri's strong, but Yuuri _really_ doesn't let on enough and to be carried as such stuns Viktor into exclamations.

All his protests melt into laughter when Yuuri stops and makes Viktor slap on the lights (a hard task, upside down!) and awkwardly puts him back down and Viktor squirms upright on his own bed. Yuuri's laughing too, _you're heavy,_ he's saying to Viktor, _it's not fair how much stronger you are,_ Viktor's saying to him, trying to tackle him down onto the bed and Yuuri goes jelly under his arms. _Not fair! No fun,_ Viktor protests, can barely get it out before Yuuri's leaping back on him and they struggle, laughing and panting for awhile before (of course) Yuuri pins Viktor, holds him, counts to five in Japanese while Viktor struggles futilely and then the match is over.

There again is that not-so-impermanent gaze from Yuuri as he's above Viktor (the possible headiness of this position is just reaching Viktor's awareness), quiet and wondering, but so evidently _there._ Viktor returns it, trying to blow with a quick puff of air his one-sided bangs off his face, but of course it doesn't work, and Yuuri brushes them off for him.

There's just something so good about being together.

"Thank you for coming back," Viktor says softly. "For being and staying my copilot."

 _"_ Thanks," Yuuri says, "For staying you."

 _You make it easy,_ Viktor thinks.

There's a moment of pause.

"Do you think there's really an island of calm in the storm? Do you think anyone finds it, these days?" Yuuri says to Viktor.

"What?" Viktor asks. Then thinks. "Oh. Astravok."

"Mari said something about it."

"Well, of course," Viktor says, thinking of all the pilot pairs he's known. And tracing some to their ends. Chris and Suire; JJ and Isabella - "-though it doesn't always last. The storm wins. In this occupation, we plan for that."

"But then you gather yourself up and look for the next. The next sleep. The next shores."

"Simple," Viktor says. "Exhausting," he adds. He thinks of all his grey hair.

"The final one. The final _. . ._ haven."

"Eventually."

". . . What if it never is? What if it never lasts? What if you continue coming back and getting stopped short-"

Viktor passes Yuuri a wondering look, because this is surely not about the Jaeger program. Yuuri looks away, reminiscent of his old habits towards Viktor at the start.

"Ah, but you never know. That's why it's exciting. That's why I keep going. The future is written, but I've yet to read it," Viktor says. He looks at the wall, where he's framed and hung one of his favorite fan drawings. It's a grade-three-rendered crayon depiction of him. He especially likes it (hates it) because of the sparkle drawn on his large forehead. Nevertheless, he's got a veritable rainbow of medals and badges on his jacket.

"Well, it makes me miserable," Yuuri says, drawing his knees up and leaning a cheek on them.

"I know that already, Yuuri, you ran away and hid on the Wall for months after the Knifehead incident," Viktor says, no-nonsense.

Yuuri makes a short sigh and turns his gaze forward as well.

"The medications are still working well, yes? Do you still need something?" Viktor asks. Because the reaction is a little more raw than Viktor would like it to be.

"No, I've just been - did you know I might have - maybe only - had feelings for - " _\- for Phichit,_ and it's immediately evident to Viktor, just the youngest sparkings, just the smallest wonderings, for a moment he's swept up and the sudden way that bud was ripped, torn away from the stem pricks a swell of empathy from Viktor, _why didn't you tell me_ \- _but I didn't even know_ \- _I'm so sorry_ \- _it was never anything,_ "just might have been," Yuuri finishes. Something's very strange, and Viktor abruptly snaps into the realization that his own lips haven't moved at all, and his mind is shifting (very barely so) back into its own territory and the room is subtly phasing down to one perception.

There's a catch in Yuuri's breath as he picks up on this too. He frowns at Viktor. "Did you-"

And Viktor's grinning. "I've read about this in the files. I mean, everyone studies this. But I read the personal account of the first true Ranger pair, ghosting, and this is exact-"

"Did we just drift . . . without a pons?" Yuuri says.

"-It's exactly how they described it!"

"Did we just drift?!"

"Yes!" Viktor's excited. "Well, technically, ghosted." He grabs Yuuri in a hug and gives it all his strength, then tousles his hair affectionately and pushes him up (thankfully Yuuri cooperates, otherwise him trying to push Yuuri would have been just a laughable effort). "Now go to bed, ghost, it's late."

"Sure," Yuuri says.

"Oh, oh, wait, what were we talking about? Oh yes, Phichit." Viktor tries to adopt a more serious mood. "Does this matter? Shall we pursue this further?"

Yuuri pauses in the door, back (and ass) to Viktor (who uses the opportunity to his full advantage).

"I was trying to decide, and I've decided not. I just needed to say it, I think. I realize nothing ever happened with that, and nothing ever will."

"There are lots of _little islands_ out there, Yuuri, for every one of us," Viktor says, using Russian for the small phrase, but sure the sound of "astravok" is recognizable. "And they have different flowers, and different trees, and some are not so safe, and some are . . . "

"So it's between laurel and anemone," Yuuri jokes back, half-turned in the doorway now, referencing the first stanza. "I think, as the gardener that I am, I prefer to cultivate laurel."

That's the last they talk for the evening.

Viktor lies awake wondering if they can ghost through walls, or when not revealing heartfelt secrets. Probably not. He'll have to come up with some more emotional setups for them to get really good at ghosting. He can maybe think of a few. (He dreams of rings and roses that night.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Viktor is totally oblivious. But the leaves of the laurel tree symbolize victory in Roman and other European cultures. Viktor? Victory? Ah, Yuuri, your efforts go to waste on this silly man.  
> \----  
> ALSO I had outlined like 9 more chapters but I finished actually writing 'one and a half' of those chapters and it's 15,000 words sooooooooooooo we may be in for the long haul (160K? oh god)  
> also i just kms writing what will probably be chapter 31 i'm cri so HANG ON FOR THAT ONE


	29. To Feel

{She finds herself distracted most of the time now, lost in thoughts of Yura, going to the window compulsively. When мама comes in (she hasn't come in a long time), she goes to ask her _when is Yura coming back? Can I see him?;_ and мама says . . . something that doesn't mean yes or no. But what мама does say is that she might be going somewhere else soon. Perhaps, this is where she will get to live with Yura again. She shows мама her collection of drawings. Now some paper the floor because she couldn't decide which were the worst. She needs another look to judge them all.

Along the way she gets lost and doesn't make it through, (maybe she took too long deciding which two to have мама critique first) and she wrings her hands because мама is gone all of a sudden. And there is no new package of fat, lace-edged creme cookies like there usually is when мама visits. Oh, silly мама. She must have forgot.

She has slept again (and turned off the music, because something in her wants to open the air to the soft voices coming through the windows past the drapes) when some sense draws her awake and she straightens to a sitting position, straightens her blue gown and sits to feel for a moment. As routine, she goes for the bell on the mantle above the fireplace gutted and replaced with wreaths of dried flowers behind decorative gold flowers - but, the bell is not there. Then she remembers мама said she has done well and must not be compelled to carry on with the task for the moment. So she goes back to sit, smiling a little bit, just to feel. }

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{When she wakes again, there are the creme cookies and a meal, which she eats while contemplating birds and mathematics and _Kaiju_ and which of Mozart's operas she shall listen to today and in what order.

It's some indeterminable time within which she's made a bird 13 different ways out of her drawings scattered in the corner, bits and pieces of Yura's chin and eyes and hair, and it's time to take the green and two white pills in the gilded cup that is to the left and up of her meal plate.

But it's not.

She sits for a bit and examines the shiny mahogany tabletop.

It is not there.

She must have taken them already. That's it.

Muffled voices immediately draw her to the window. мама and - oh, it's Yura! She beams, fingers to the glass, red drapes and blue gown. He can't see her, but maybe he can. Of course he can, now. She speaks a phrase of Russian to him. _котенок_ _,_ _мой котенок_ _,_ she whispers. Oh, he's so tall and grown now, but she can still see the child in him. He gives something small to мама.

\- _Thank you, Yura,_ мама says to him.

\- _No problem. Is the brain ready soon?_

_\- Yes. I have transport available. The same day as your Operation Pitfall is scheduled will be the best conditions for establishing drift._

She must hold her ear to the window to hear them, which negates her a view. It isn't interesting, anyways. So she goes back to looking at them. мама puts an arm around Yura. They exchange words. Yura nods. _Dear Yura._

Then she hears a name that dims her vision, that clouds her heart, it makes her feel cold. She presses her ear to the glass, as if compelled.

\- _He won't let me do anything deemed unsafe,_ Yura says.

_\- As ever,_ мама says knowingly. They stand beside a display case that holds several expensive pieces of Kaiju jewelry, on the inlaid marble floor. _Are you confident his be-all and end-all plan will work?_

_\- I don't know. It could be dangerous for me. Mari thinks that the Kaiju are coming for me. I think that's kind of . . . impossible._

_\- It's very much not. Your mother discovered ways to communicate with the Kaiju when she was doing her research work._

_\- What? So have people -_

_\- No one has ever created such a device, or person. They were technical details only, pure science yet to be applied. Sofya worked on it before she was . . . shut down. But . . . when she was put into safekeeping . . . what complications arose I still believe may have been effects of her ideas beginning to work._

_\- What ideas?_

_\- Oh, I don't know the specifics. But, she did say she could feel the Kaiju emerging through the breach. These were taken as lunacy. It was certainly still for the better to put her in care. Though, I wouldn't call it lunacy._

_\- I get pretty accurate, uh, feelings of when the breach opens so far._

_\- Do you? Does Yakov -_

There is that name again. She recoils and returns to just looking. She strains to see if he is anywhere near. Why is мама asking Yura about him?! Why would Yura know anything? That man is only trouble. Poor мама, she used to think it was мама's fault some, when she first told her, but - she doesn't like that man. She smooths her dress angrily and returns to listening.

- _Should go where your talents are more appreciated,_ мама is saying.

\- _If I told Yakov he'd kick me out of the program._

_\- I thought he was protective of you._

_\- Sort of. He's not nice about it._

_\- He's not a nice man._

_\- What do you mean? Dedushka and him were always together. You probably knew him well._

_\- Too well._

_\- Babushka . . ._

_\- You are old enough to hear this story, Yura, I think. You will understand what I had to do._

_\- This about leaving dedushka?_

Yura sounds angry now and he's pulling away from мама. _No, stay!_ Yura should hear this, she would tell her herself.

\- _Yes,_ мама says calmly. She is _so_ elegant with her dark hair back, deep red dress, gold accents, her smart expression lined with creases of a well-lived life yet enough empty spaces to live more. Yura stays. _When you were still very young and I left your dedushka it was because Yakov had approached me. They were such fast friends, and this would surely jeopardize the bond they had developed as fellow Rangers. I brought this to Yakov's attention, but he would not stop pursuing me._

_So what could I do? I was beginning to strain them. I didn't want to leave Nikolai, especially with his sickness setting in. But I knew that Nikolai and Yakov went very far back. They had piloted together for years._

_I felt like I could not replace Yakov in Nikolai's life. Yakov could do more for Nikolai than I. So I left Nikolai._

From behind the glass, she pleads with Yura to understand. He's a smart boy. He will. He looks like he's thinking.

\- _Did you tell dedushka why?_ Yura asks.

мама shakes her head. _I couldn't. That would break their friendship for sure._

_\- Did Yakov ever tell dedushka why?_

_\- I don't know. I have only spoken once to Yakov since, and that was a long time ago. It was to convince him to sign you into the Academy, and arrange for your mother's stay._

_\- . . . I believe you._

_\- Looking back, I always wonder if I should have stayed._

Yura shrugs. He is wearing a black jacket with an orange Kaiju on the back of it, black and white striped sleeves. It's very cute on him.

\- _Is . . . Mama in a good place? A good facility?_

_\- Of course. Like I said, she wasn't crazed. It's a good home. She's never needed to move._

_\- OK._

\- _I am curious to why you believe me. It must sound like just a story._

_\- Yakov's a fucking bitter old man. That explains it._

Yura glances up as if he expects repercussion for this slipping out. Maybe if she were closer to her son, she would be upset. But now it is just a sign of his age and she smiles wryly. мама's expression is similar.

\- _Do you think that's the worst I hear in Black Tiger?_ мама says and laughs. _Now you should get going. Tell your scientist Mari the date. I will communicate further. I also can provide a pons system. And . . . think about what you said you can feel. If that is true, Yura, then you must find a place to give field to your skills._

She turns back to looking instead of listening. Yura leaves. So soon? Ah. She didn't get a chance to start painting yet! She must! Before the impressions evaporate - she scrambles for her brushes.}

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"It's not hurting anyone. I don't see why you have a problem with it."

The two newest Rangers are running laps downstairs after lunch. The hard floor is inconducive to running. It's rather dim. They've ran anyway and now stop by a hall that leads to bunkers 12-16.

"It wastes valuable training time," the shorter one says to the taller.

Yuri Plisetsky crosses his arms. "I'll be fine," he says.

"They don't need your help."

"It's fun."

"You know whoever it is, your contact."

Plisetsky scowls.

"You knew this would happen. We drift every day now. You can't hide." Otabek Altin throws his arms wide.

"She's my grandmother."

Altin tosses the long part of his undercut over to one side, crossing his arms as well.

"Leave the Jaeger program before you get kicked out," he says in a forceful tone.

"You don't tell me what to do," sneers Plisetsky.

"I tell you what we'll do," returns Altin, and he grabs the taller Ranger by the sides of his tank and muscles him into the empty hallway. "We're going to stop talking about this." He pushes him against the wall. He's stronger, but Plisetsky's not fighting.

"And do what?" Plisetsky slips out from under the grasp with a twist, flees catlike to the other side of the hall, crouched.

Altin turns and stays rooted. They shift, following each other's intended feints, then Plisetsky makes a dash at Altin who deflects a kick, quickly, catches a punch that's too fiery and runaway, flips him back up against the wall but this time wrists crossed, pinned above, and Plisetsky's face to the hard cold concrete.

"You're also afraid of something," Altin says. "Will you tell me or not?"

Plisetsky's breathing heavily.

"I'm afraid we're both going to die in Pitfall because I'm a fucking Kaiju magnet," he laughs sharply.

"Going to run away then?"

"Fuck no. We take down the breach, couldn't care if we fucking die, we won't, they'll immortalize us."

"Us."

"Yuri Plisetsky and Otabek Altin."

"Otabek Altin and Yuri Plisetsky."

"Fucker."

"Damn right," and Altin pushes himself against his copilot, close and rough and hard through their clothes. Plisetsky's breath shudders and growls back out, fades to a moan.

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The Tango knocks the lights out of the three singular Kaiju that burst through the drift in quick succession, in an interval of 18 hours. They fight clean, only minor repairs needed. Talk begins to go around, Viktor hears, some muttering against Yakov, some ghosts of agreement with the fact that Yakov should have designated the Phoenix Fist to take the dangerous payload in. Because of its pilots, really. Viktor and Yuuri are earning respect as Rangers.

Operation Pitfall is to be spoken of only inside the Shatterdome, so when some emissiaries from TIME come 3 days before Pitfall, Viktor has to adopt his press face and say a lot without saying much. The hated task isn't so bad. Because Yuuri is there beside him.

The core team of six eats together and spends what little time they can spare relaxing, relaxing together. It's more just some spare minutes in the gathering space where they usually watch others go on mission, discussing mission options and objectives. That has to count as relaxing for now. Every other moment they're training, checking the Jaegers, testing, checking again. Training on the ocean floor, especially, because that's where this is staged to go down. Everyone's got the pass from Leo, even Yurio and Otabek. Tension strings itself through every heart and hallway. The pilots unspokenly turn it into sweat and focus, Viktor knows. They're efficient machines themselves in that respect.

Viktor depends on Yuuri, who's as calm as ever. He sits deep in focus and runs test after test on their exacting task of diving into the breach, ejecting the payload and themselves at the right moment in the right direction. Oh, of course Viktor does too, but there's a flagrant excitement running lines of wildfire through his veins and sometimes he just has to look at Yuuri and sit close to him and then he can gather his faculties enough to ensure they can do it, they'll make it out alive.

Mila sports a fresh undershave the day before, three sharp lines in from the hairline cut shorter than the rest.

Yurio and Otabek have cemented, so it appears. Yurio, lean and more lethal-looking than childish now, Otabek's serious countenance sharper.

This mission will be a covenant between them, Viktor feels. It will end everything, and start something new at the same time, whether it succeeds or fails.

His prize, first and foremost, is not saving the world or being able to answer the questions the TIME writers ask. No, it's the man whose hand he takes as the night before the mission they stand on the balcony and just quietly stand before their Jaeger, a quiet camaraderie.

Finally the shatterdome is silent after all these days. Everything is ready. Viktor's lulled by Yuuri's steady breathing.

"You're so calm," Viktor says. He's still burning with anticipation, taking down those three Kaiju in a row only momentarily provided an out for the adrenaline that's building.

"Hm," Yuuri says. "I'm just thinking how after this I'll go back to Hasetsu."

"Whatever happens?" Viktor raises an eyebrow.

"Yes," Yuuri says decisively. Their hands still rest in each other's on the railing. Yuuri hasn't appeared to really notice it. Maybe it's natural now. "I should thank my parents for putting me in the Academy. I realize it was the best thing to do, even if it was hard for them, and I didn't like it either at first."

"You should," Viktor agrees. Yuuri gives him a sidelong look that Viktor can feel tingle across his cheekbones. _Wish I could've thanked mine._

" . . . The Karloff attack happened before you got better?"

Viktor twists his face involuntarily. "Yes. Though I didn't know it at the time. Everything looked good. I was back full-time in the Academy under Yakov again. But," he taps his head, "still thoughts going around in there that shouldn't have been."

"Do you regret it much?"

"Of course," Viktor says, the words leaving his lips a little too heated. "Of course," he repeats, softer. He turns to Yuuri. "In a small way, I hope I can - I hope we can - save other families all this. If we stop the Kaiju from ever coming to Earth again, tomorrow - we'll snuff out a million possible futures where deaths tear people from each other. Where you don't have time to say what you needed to."

"You always think you have time," Yuuri commiserates.

They lapse into comfortable silence again.

Their hands stay loosely entwined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gonna try and update 2x a week or maybe 3x , as long as writer's block doesn't settle in


	30. Coming

 

_So it's 11:46 a.m. and I'm on my way to Hong Kong and Black Tiger and Yurio's grandma who's got a brain for me. Hopefully. And I better not lose this paper. It's my only passport._

_Ride's short but some stuff happened. So I got up at like 5 a.m. to run some further sequences and finish up the data I've got to trade in for the brain and there's Minako standing in the door and giving me a_ LOOK _and I squelch up to look at her and she asks me where I'm going. I was like, fine way to greet an old friend!_

You left the K last night, _Minako pointed out. Yeah, I kinda guessed I was out for long enough if someone bothered to look at the log they'd notice something was up._

 _Yakov's kicking me out, then, I concluded. But Minako said she'd deleted the short glitch, just copied over an old sleep pattern. I was like what? why? and of course I_ had _to tell her the truth since she saved my ass. Well, OK Minako, so I've got a Kaiju brain to drift with it and you better pray I manage to do so before everyone goes in and gets killed on this damn mission!_

The math all works out. I don't see why you're so worried, _Minako said, still standing in the door._ The breach is a particle- _something-or-other, she went on about how they know exactly what sort of dimensional tunnel it is, and there's nothing more to it, but they've never been inside it, it leads to another place entirely and you just can't be so damn sure it'll work like it does on Earth! The hairs stand up on my neck, just thinking of how Yakov's sending my brother and Viktor in there to drop off the TNT like a carton of milk or something._

Why can't you just do as told, _Minako sighed at me._

_Cause when you do, this happens, I told her, pointing out how I never see her now._

I miss you too, but you just don't work very well in this program, _Minako had told me. Well at least I got something companionable from her. We do have kind of a strange friendship, since she's older than me by seven years. But it works. It has, sort of. Then she just commented on how I'd turned her side of the room into a dump for all my equipment (which is true, the radiography machine is over there) and I'd said I'd clear it out if she came back and she said,_ oh she doesn't _need_ it now, _and I just really hoped she'd go away if she was being regular fussy Minako now._

 _But she let me go. I asked her if she was going to tell Yakov. She said_ why would I? _. And I haven't been shot out of the sky yet, so she must've been true to her word. Actually, she never fibs. She probably has some sort of book where she keeps a running tally of consecutive days where she's been an absolutely perfect model of a Jaeger program mathematician._

_While I pride myself on the spectacular superpower of being able to tune out my conscience. I'm quite good at it. Should put it on my resume._

_Not gonna lie, I'm super nervous right now. I'm checking my watch every 10 seconds. It's a terrible day, cloud cover and raining. Pitfall is supposed to go down around 6 p.m._

_I'm really wishing I'd hugged Yuuri goodbye. I was gonna keep my chin up. Of course I'll be back in time to stop whatever shit's gonna come of Yakov's brazenness. But then I might not be, and who knows what will happen. But he can't know. I couldn't get him upset. He's used to me not showing up to see him off by now._

_Chin up, Mari._

_I'll still make it back in time. That's the goal._

_Mari out. We're going in for the landing._

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The farewell is solemn, fitting, but not sad. Yakov's wearing his official Marshal's uniform, decked in medals across the breast. Everyone's wearing their best. The pilot pairs have gone through drivesuit prep and come back out for a formal send-off. There's nothing to work on, do, or fix, since the last 13 days have been 24/7 sweat and effort to prepare for today.

Guang-Hong wears his PPDC-issued uniform. Emil's got his arm slung still (there were some problems with the complex fracture), but he's also in uniform. Minako is present, well-dressed as usual. The entire staff of the shatterdome crowd around in relative silence, stuffing the space full and even stacking into the first-level balcony. Every janitor and cook is here. Every helicopter pilot, every tech who does the smallest task.

Just Mari isn't here. Viktor does think it's a bit cruel of Yakov to insist on her confinement even when her brother is heading out on this mission. But, truth be told, she might have used the opportunity to skip out anyway.

"Do us proud. Rangers," Yakov says, the statement waited-for and all that needs be said. His eyes sweep across the six pilots. They barely skim Viktor's. They ignore him. And Viktor's starting not to care.

Then Yuuri and Viktor turn their backs to the crowd and head to the lift closest to the Tango's ConnPod. The other two pairs do the same, to their own Jaegers.

Unusal applause rises as everyone climbs into the docks and starts locking themselves in.

The noise that reverberates around the metal dome clamps down to a blurred muffle as the Tango's helmet seals around them; now it's just Viktor and Yuuri, and the Tango, carrying her explosive load.

Yuuri runs a comms check; Viktor brings the systems to run-time and snaps on his helmet. The neural goo slides up chillingly. The AI notifies them of the drift that's about to initiate.

Viktor feels like these moments would stretch farther, if he could hold on. But his attention's slippery for excitement and it carries over as he's sucked into that tunneling perception and lands in the colours of Yuuri's mind; they meld and merge and see together, the bleak ocean and sky before them as the dome opens.

For sure, by now, Viktor dares to think, oh, he's heartened to think, that they must have something no one else quite does. And when _he_ thinks it, it's the drift experience, so the Tango must be one confident Jaeger.

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_Whoever's listening, holy shit. This place looks like crud from the outside and it's some awkward Chinese medicine shop but inside, it's the grossest, awesomest thing you ever saw. There are like, marble pillars and floors and shiny deep red mahogany everywhere and what I'm sure is real gold patterns inlaid everywhere but - BUT - the best part is - the Kaiju preserves!_

_They have so much! Black Tiger, I mean! And it's all in the BEST condition! They've got a fully intact and pump-fed spinal section from a Yamarashi! They've got an ongoing display study of the stomach lining of what's probably a Raiju! They have a beautifully dissected pair of eyes from years ago, I can't even remember the Kaiju's name - they've got everything, they've got - oh, but they HAVE got the brain. It's beautiful. It's the secondary brain, smaller, the one I want. It's beautiful. I would lawfully register it as my commonlaw spouse if I could. I would love to share a house and my whole life with it. No, DON'T go there, whoever's listening. All I'm saying is, what's better than a kaiju fresh from the breach? A live Kaiju without the skin on it, in as many places as you please. And Black Tiger has that. And this is just from their gallery! I'm rambling! I don't care! . . . I'm in some kind of back tea-room now that has way too many gold-accented decorations and lavish wall hangings for my taste. I would have loved to stay in the gallery, but Yurio's grandma insisted._

_Her name's Lilia and she's the most frightening looking woman I ever laid eyes on. She's got these heavy gold earrings on and green eyes-not quite like Yurio's though, his are more blue, hers are more yellow - in fact they look nothing alike - and this really lavish dress that looks like it came straight from some ready-to-wear collection and a fluffy thing, what do you call them, that go around your neck and sort of hang down, and really pointy gold-plated heels and . . . I dunno, I was running around the room at first, you know how excited I get, but all these Tiger punks with shaved hair and tattoos and piercings and skin-tight outfits, you know, were all just standing around waiting for something that I didn't notice. The something was Lilia, of course, and she must be as scary as she looks, because all her henchmen were completely under her control._

_Oh yeah, and she's taller than me. I mean, doesn't take much, but she's gotta be at least 5'9'', with heels off. She's gotta be at least mid-fifties but all the wrinkles in her face look like she put them there with a knife just to make her look more fierce._

_So I managed to stutter out something like "hi, I'm Mari, the spy scientist who gave you all that useful data right?" and she was all flatlining me in this Russian accent,_ "I know who you are," _and so then we got on talking about the brain but I guess we have to have tea first. I mean, the brain was right there in the gallery, and I was loathe to leave it, but some of her punks 'escorted' me to this tea room. Where we are now._

_Um, that's it for now! She could be back anytime -_

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The three Jaegers move out and gather like sentinels, underwater and far from shore.

They had departed at 10 a.m. to reach the Breach in time. No luxury of waiting for the Kaiju to get close enough. It's quite a bit farther north and east from the Hong Kong shatterdome: 32°N and 156°E. Before submersion, the sky had been weeping sleet. Kaiju have damaged the Earth's climate. Sub-Arctic Asian regions with previously mild temperatures suffer through freezing seasons now. While the company of three Jaegers is not quite that far north yet, they all should know, Viktor thinks, that the old Chukotka Peninsula shatterdome damaged by an attack about 12 years ago was abandoned for no other reason than the cold weather made taking building supplies up and baiting a workforce near impossible. Meanwhile, the Breach activity patterns cause some kind of permanent weather shift so that Northern Canada is a much balmier place to live. Of course, you have to be willing to risk exposure to solar radiation, again caused by a deformation in Earth's magnetic field caused by breach activity. And then there are a lot more hurricanes and tsunamis and earthquakes, around the Pacifim rim, and general climate nastiness going on.

Governments and nations have gotten used to dealing with it, not that they all do it that well.

The Phoenix Fist, Cherno Alpha and Coyote Tango stand fully submerged on the ocean floor 15,000 feet deep. LOCCENT's still clear. It's around 5 p.m. Everything's dark. Flickers of motion, fish schools and whatnot, sometimes pass but otherwise not much. Huge rocky outcrops and drifts and drops rise shiftingly out of the blackness of the waves, illuminated by each Jaeger's spotlamps.

The oppressing silence ostentatiously broken by the hissing of the watertight seal and the whirring of pumps and the mechanical clicks and judderings from the Tango's heart and every time they move is something half-spooky (Viktor) and half-calming (Yuuri) in the drift experience. They can handle paradoxes much better as two consciousnesses in one. That's only essential to duplicate existances. Only they aren't paradoxes, the opposing perceptions merge into something completely new, and so much more than the feeble single-minded adjectives they can conjure up. There's isn't a word for a lot of drift emotions, but that's fine. You don't need words in the drift.

They ask themselves, decide for themselves to go to Hasetsu after this is over. Both of them, all of them. _Meet the parents._ They're very happy, quietly happy, excited with themselves on this and seem to have moved a great distance, although LOCCENT calls a halt and wait.

Yurio patches in.

"How long we're gonna stand here for?" comes his unmistakable tone.

"Until predictions says the Breach is good to open," Mila answers from the Phoenix.

The two metal monsters turn their heads and lamps towards each other as if actually conversing.

" . . ." There's some static from the Phoenix, like someone's opened the comm lines but isn't saying anything.

"Yurio?" Yuuri says through his comm.

"Just putting . . . Just put LOCCENT off the line for a sec. So even though sending you guys in the Breach, Tango, is fucking stupid of Yakov, I think us being back-up, the distraction, will work, 'cause, like, all the Kaiju might - _might_ \- come straight for us. The Phoenix. Me. Me and Otabek. But me-"

"What, Yurio?" Mila interrupts him. "The Kaiju will come for _you_?"

"-Look, you know Mari thinks she knows why the recent attacks have been heading for the shatterdome. She thinks it might be me."

"What?" Viktor joins the conversation. "Why?"

"She doesn't know, something to do with my fucking DNA or blood or something," Yurio mumbles over the comm lines. "So just be aware."

"And you didn't tell Yakov?" Yuuri adds.

"Do you think he'd have even let me out of the fucking shatterdome if I did?!" Yurio tirades.

"Good point," Yuuri says.

"There are supposed to be at least five Kaiju coming through today. We won't let them all chew you up, Phoenix. We'll head in front and try and take one or two out on our way," Viktor says.

"Sure," Yurio says. It sounds kind of like a thank-you, Viktor-Yuuri thinks.

"I know you wanted to carry the payload in . . . and it does make more sense . . . but I can see where Yakov's coming from. It will still work this way," Yuuri says. "And we switch it if worse comes to worst."

"What I can't figure out is why Yakov's letting Viktor have the glory of shutting down the breach," Mila pipes up. "It's not exactly subtle that you two don't work together anymore, at all, on anything. No offense, Viktor."

"No, you're right," Viktor says. "Either he has hidden vestiges of faith in Yuuri and I, which I highly doubt, or we're staring a possible failure in the face."

"It's what we signed up for," Sara patches in.

". . . . I agree with Yuuri, though, for what it's worth, I would have sent you and Otabek into the throat, Yurio. Not because you're disposable. Because, you know, that's the sort of thing I wanted so badly to do at your age," Viktor tags. It feels weird saying nice things to Yurio but it's easier when in the drift with Yuuri. "But now I'm the old one. Maybe that's why I'm going into the breach, I'm disposable now," he jokes.

A fuzzy snort from Yurio.

"You're the one that shouldn't get blown up," Yurio mutters.

Viktor wonders if his ears heard right.

"You would've had this done by now instead of all Yakov's shitty orders and trying to keep a leash on me. At least," Yurio explains hurriedly. "But no, you went chasing _your dreams_ and here we are, at the bottom of the fucking ocean, waiting to be outnumbered by aliens."

Viktor's softened by this (backwards) compliment. "After you refused to pilot with him, Yuuri needed someone! What was I to do? - only my duty," he says mournfully, but his tone edges into a laugh that bleeds over from Yuuri in the drift.

"Your next medal will be for the miracle of turning Yuuri into a legitimate Ranger again," Yurio says acerbically.

Viktor doesn't like to hear anyone bad-mouthing his copilot (or, the love of his fucking _life_ ), though Yuuri's not bothered. "Yuuri came back from a battle you'll have to drift much more before you're ready to face and still kept a level head better than you on mission," Viktor replies. He expects the usual venomous comeback.

". . . Sure," is all Yurio says. "Fuck, LOCCENT's trying to say something. Nice talking to you."

Yurio makes up some lie about reception cutting out and they begin a slow march toward the glow in the murky distance, a toss-up of blue and orange, the Breach.

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[(now this art is no longer a spoiler)](http://spelon-berry.tumblr.com/post/160592221613)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks at word count* *15,639 words* well I guess I'll update it mid-week then . . .  
> also I can't believe I started this in January. I didn't know I had this level of commitment in me. Finally I'm getting to some plot points I thought of five months ago. thanks for sticking with it, I know sometimes it's been slow going! I hope to finish by end of July.


	31. Is This All

_Lilia Bara-something just gave me a job offer._

_I'm still kind of shaking. I unloaded the really rough makeshift pons I rigged up after I had to leave the old one at the scene of the Otachi birth, but Lilia revealed she also has in storage part of the pons from one of the old Mark Twos that went down north of here years ago._

_She has this upper room that's pretty bare except for a whole bunch of artifacts and machinery in storage, but there's power and tools, so I'm just wrangling them together. There are two Tiger people on the other side of the door as guards but otherwise I'm alone in here. Which is odd, you'd think Lilia would at least expect some foul play from me, some visitor from the PPDC, but she said, over tea, as far as she was concerned I was a scientist. And the most knowledgeable scientist on Earth concerning Kaiju biology._

_Don't mean to brag, but she's damn right._

_And then after she showed me this remaining pons system she pretty much said I could leave the PPDC and work for her. I had to ask her what the job was like. She said I'd be in charge of the research she's doing. It's well-funded and more expansive than the Jaeger program's efforts, she said. Well no kidding. Wouldn't take much to be doing more than they're doing on that front. I'd be working with numerous, well-preserved specimens. Apparently she and the Black Tiger are very invested in research, who would have known? I assumed it was just to make rip-offs of real Kaiju products, make a fast buck. Lilia said there's more than that. Of course I asked her what._

_I don't get to know, of course. Well, I was just a little annoyed that I was being withheld this information, and so told her that the Jaeger program has classified projects of its own._ They can't be as impressive as ours,  _Lilia had said._ What is your deal then?  _And I was like, can't tell you, it's classified. But she just gave me a really sharp raised eyebrow and my kneecaps started shivering and I was like, ok well, it's pretty cool, I'll tell you, and somehow I let spill this project that's been shelved for just over a year now: the Kai-2s. Kai-two, Kai-ju, get it?_

_Uhhhh, so after that slipped out, I might be looking for a new job anyways. Oh, nah, Yakov, those aren't_ our  _design, I can picture myself bluffing when someday they come to pick up the carcasses sworn over to the black market. He'll kick me out then, for sure._

_Anyways, I'm still shaking, and partly because after I get this all rigged up, they're gonna ship me and it back down to the gallery and there I'll go, into the Kaiju's brain, to find out exactly how accurate my hunch is that this crazed mission ain't gonna work._

_It's 4:54 p.m. Gotta work fast._

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The Breach is actually a miles-long, blue-and-orange lit crevasse, but the throat or neck or access point or whatever you want to call where the Kaiju actually emerge from is at this specific location along the fault.

_We're pretty much at the same latitude as my city,_ Yuuri notes in the drift, as they cover the last several hundred meters slowly and cautiously.

This feels like the last defense and yet, also like the first attack.

After the initial order to proceed, there's no more communication. They've rehearsed this to saturation point.

The Tango is in the middle, striding slightly ahead.

Each footstep whirls up a muddle of sand and rocky ocean bottom into the waves, so they try to tread lightly.

The Breach is so bright and crackles, throwing out periodic lances of filmy energy like sunspots, that their headlamps are almost unnecessary 400 meters away yet.

290.

270.

250.

230.

210-

" _Kaiju signatures rising!"_

Everything becomes alive.

They stop.

"Three," Yurio says through the comms.

_Ka-chunk_ of Cherno's nickel rolls. Tango's chain sword  _shink-shink-shink-shink-shink-shink-_ snaps out. Phoenix's Sting blades eject. All sounds muffled by the ocean, but this is heavy, heavy machinery, and not even the sea can quiet the Jaegers' noise.

The Tango has no mortar cannons (instead, they're loaded on the back with the TNT), but just as well. That kind of projectile isn't meant for underwater use.

_"We've got three. Two are coming for you. Category fours. Codename Scunner,"_ LOCCENT says. It's a new one, then, Scunner was to be the christening name.

"Where's the third?" Otabek asks urgently through the comms.

" _We're trying to get a signal. Breach activity interfering."_

Slowly, slower than before, they start moving forward.

Indeed, as they get closer the active site is increasingly violent, throwing upward lashing fits of spits of orange fade-to-blue refracting energy.

In addition, the terrain becomes more rocky, and strong intermittent currents whipped out by breach activity buffer the Jaegers unexpectedly.

"Can't see much except the Breach," Viktor notifies LOCCENT. He's seen the breach before, through video feeds, when submarine vehicles have been sent down here to set up monitor probes, but in the drift there's a low shimmer of awe from Yuuri, and he expects the other pilots feel the same way.

Too suddenly, there are black occlusions of the Breach's angry light in front of the three Jaegers, hefty, dull tinge of blue-green that is Kaiju markings. They've got huge heads with horn-like battering rams and four arms each, fused at the elbow, claws and that's all Viktor-Yuuri can notice before they're in range of the chain sword.

Weapon up, stance firm, here it goes.

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{She's been pacing the length of the room for awhile. She rearranges the order of the drawings of  _her dear Yura_ for the nth time.

Because her food has already come today, she knows soon it must be time to sleep (there weren't any pills today either; maybe she should mention something to мама). But she cannot sleep now; neither can she rest or set herself to a task (she has begun to weave a new patterned rug). She has times like this.

Earlier people came through the gallery, but now it's empty. She has been staring into the dimly-lit room at the brain. It gently sucks at the confines of its tube.

Time drifts by.

Automatic lights flick back on and мама re-enters, elegant in a gold-yellow traditional dress, pearl earrings. Some of мама's employees move a large machine around the brain. Another guest is with мама, someone she doesn't like, she knows this for sure by her own innate reaction. She feels angry that мама would let this person in. And it looks like she is helping her - do something - the visitor stands and puts a contraption around the back of her head -

She has to turn abruptly from the window and squeeze her eyes shut as a flood of voices and details and thoughts squirm like tiny slivers of painful light, rush up from some corner of her mind.  _No!_ She cannot have this back, it hurts too much - ' _you as well, Dr. Satina', handshakes, long hours, her mind taxed and turned, a passion that burns her bones dry, 'is he still staying with his dad?', her name, articles full of praise, articles full of lies, her photograph on glossy paper on grocery shelves, 'you can't do this to yourself!' -_

Her lips are saying  _nonononononono_ and finally it stops, the memories, but they're not memories, they're meaningless ashes of the past. It was a book she read somewhere. It was something she learned. That was  _never_ her.

She sits at her weaving and waits for the threads to over-under-over-under themselves into the picture she's making.

Eventually, it will work, it will be finished.

Isn't it nice how the world works? she thinks. She does not give a glance the gallery's way. But at the same time, in her room, there's no other windows to look out.}

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The Tango rears back an elbow and brings it smashing into the first Scunner's face as it comes on, bends, dodging the other, leaving that Kaiju to its fellow warriors.

The Scunner's blue nostrils flare, that was barely a knock, even as the impact reverbrates up Viktor's arm to his shoulder.  _Think the chain sword can cut through its horns? Not sure, can't take the chance;_ they flatten themselves to the floor as the Scunner makes a pass at the Tango's helm.

Underwater is a much different situation. That's why they've had to do so much training these last couple weeks. They've practiced in the environment, yes, but it's harder with an actual alien there, and this one twists and claws the Tango by the hips, hauling it back thickly through the waves, back to where the other Jaegers face the remaining Kaiju. As it swimns, its jaws open to hopefully stretch over the Tango's helm and there's only dark blue, green-glowing mouth flesh and jagged black teeth in Viktor-Yuuri's vision for some strangling moments before they can retract the chain sword, clasp a fist in a shell made by the other hand and deliver a slamming double-knuckled stroke to the top of Scunner's head, over their own. Stunned, Scunner's quadruple-claw grip comes free and the Tango drags itself into a slow-motion underwater backflip, headlamp whirling as a rotating laser through the waves, so the metal knight comes to rest ontop of the Kaiju as if riding.

Scunner's thick, bony side-of-the-head protrusions aren't so threatening now; they're perfect grips for Viktor's side, as Yuuri urgently pulls out the chain sword again. Scunner rolls in the waves, not so much unseating the Tango as trying to swim off (towards the Phoenix), but Viktor-Yuuri activate the guide boosters in their feet long enough to get the chain sword locked, then they're just gripping hard with their thighs, shifting back, stabbing down in a two-handed grip.

It's a bit freakish to have the dying roars of the monster subdued and effused by the water around them, so both pilots' bodies tingle and shudder all over with the response.

The ocean around them blooms with Kaiju blood, obscuring the harsh glow of the Breach for moments, as the Tango extends and jets back from the Scunner, pulling the blade out.

" _Kaiju down, you're good, Tango, you're good,"_ LOCCENT says.

Viktor-Yuuri are already turning around to help the Phoenix and the Cherno Alpha, but the Cherno's punching the hindquarters of the beast into submission while the Phoenix holds it at bay by its horns, the Kaiju writhing and hungrily snapping at the Jaeger. Something about the weight and balance of the stocky Russian Jaeger makes the Cherno seem at home down here more than the other two, like a boxer in a ring. Viktor-Yuuri notices that the Phoenix's Sting blades have already carved wounds into the Scunner's side; the black-and-white Jaeger's looking for another opening, but all it can do is hold the huge, twisting turning creature at bay while Cherno beats it from the back.

" _Signal lost on third Kaiju. Must be out of range,"_ LOCCENT reports.

They're still too far from the breach for the Tango to proceed without the others at attention (a hundred more meters to go) so it may as well help from a distance.

"We'll have the energycaster online in ten seconds into its flank," Yuuri says into the comms.

"Got it," comes from the Phoenix.

Everything comes together.  _Third . . . modulus . . . loaded,_ the Tango's AI announces and by then Phoenix and Cherno Alpha have got the beast stretched out, a perfect target.

The deathly bright white-blue crackles forward as the Tango lunges to brace itself and the Scunner disintegrates into two pieces.

" _Kaiju-"_ LOCCENT starts, then something solid  _thunks_ into the Tango in the small of its back and the pilots pitch forward in the helm, sent jetting a short distance through the waves. Momentum's cut short by inertia but that's enough time for Kaiju number three - the all-too-familiar crocodile snout of a Raiju - to smash and scrape its paws over the the Tango's chest, clamp down on its left shoulder (Viktor's) and shred down to the elbow. The Tango twists in pain. Yuuri furiously punches the alien straight in the eye socket with the Tango's right fist. Raiju releases its hold; the Tango props itself up and kicks its legs under, pushes forward into a one-two that knocks the Raiju's head back.

_First . . . modulus . . . loaded,_ the AI says as they start charging the energycaster, expecting the glow to attract the attention of the Raiju and its thick thick armor. But the Raiju seems to have forgotten the Tango and propels itself past - onwards to the Phoenix. Tango swings around in a half-circle, realizing this, and Viktor-Yuuri stop with the whole energycaster idea and lunge out, grabbing the Raiju by its long, paddle-like tail, lunging for it and foothold dragging through the sand with the beast's momentum, their hold secured, jammed between two of its plates. Yurio shouts through the comms, "Lay it out, we're coming for it!" and Viktor-Yuuri reel the thing in, losing all the ground they're gaining with the effort but succeeding in wrestling their reluctant opponent into a struggling half-hold, force it over to expose its weak spots just as the Phoenix jets up and Sting blades hiss, penetrate deep and true.

They hold the merciless two-sided attack till the Raiju's death throes still, kicking up the ocean floor until they might as well be swimming in mud, and then the Phoenix retracts the blades with a thick SNIKT and the Tango disdainfully drops the carcass.

" _All Kaiju down,"_ LOCCENT confirms.

Regrouping, the three Jaegers get the OK to keep moving forward.

"So they  _are_ interested in you, Yurio," Viktor says through the comms.

"Huh," is all that comes back.

"It seemed to work though. Good job everyone," Mila patches in.

"There are still more," Yuuri notes.

"Good, we're getting the next kill," Mila says.

"That was fucking easy, this all the Breach has got for us?" Yurio's tone comes through with a sneer.

"You'll jinx it," Viktor mutters, but not into the comm lines. Not that he believes any superstition of the sort; it really means  _keep your head down and do your work._

They're down to almost the split-up point. Still no more Kaiju. The Breach is so close now. The deep trench in the ocean floor is lined by jets of orange energy that seem like underwater fire, if there were such a thing, and so close, the flames rise to three-quarters the height of the Tango; nets of bluish, lightning-reminiscent energy crisscross the gap and occasionally flicker outward.

Instinctively, the three pause.

"LOCCENT, how's the breach?" Viktor asks.

" _It's not dilated enough yet. Minako?"_ comes though, Guang-Hong's voice.

They hold on some tense seconds, ready for Kaiju any moment.

" _She says there are more. More than five, total, now. Wait . . . there's some disagree . . ."_ Guang-Hong cuts off.

Viktor can see Yakov, in his mind's eye, standing by his appointed mic, watching the command feed tensely, rod straight, Marshal as ever, ready and willing to make those tough calls. His way.

" _You have to wait for the next wave to come through, the throat isn't wide enough. And predictions say there are two more coming - Minako says three or four - there's some disagreement-"_

"I believe Minako," Viktor says.

"Same here, for the sake of safety," Sara's serious tone comes over the comms.

" _We'll tell you when to dive, as planned,"_ is all LOCCENT will say. " _It's not now._ "

So they have to wait, a distance away from the breach that's all too close and all too far.

One thing rides high in the drift - Viktor-Yuuri are, is, so ready to do this.

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Locked in drift, adrenaline at the ready, muscles warm, stances strong, bright white and red projections around each pilot's external arm for the Sting blades, Altin and Plisetsky talk without talking, leaving the comms closed inside the Phoenix's helm.

_\- So they_ do _come for you, are you calling them?_

_\- No. Yes. Accidentally. I don't know._

_\- It's nice you know before LOCCENT._

_\- Several seconds._

_\- Do you think there are five more coming?_

_\- What am I, the Kaiju whisperer?_

_\- I'm asking you as my copilot._

_\- . . . Sure. We'll gut them._

_\- We will._

_\- . . . Mari still thinks this isn't going to work._

_\- So? We're here. Orders are orders._

_\- The Breach feels fucking . . .  impassable. Once you feel it open, you know it's shut the rest of the time._

_\- That's why we're waiting for it to open. The Tango is._

_\- Sure._

_\- Let's just do our job._

_\- Fuck yeah. Let's kick some ass._

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_HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT I got myself out of the drift, it was too damn clear and my eyes and head hurt and this damn nosebleed and I just grabbed whoever was closest and started shaking them, HOLY SHIT I WAS FRICKIN RIGHT THOSE FRICKIN BIOSIGNATURES I GOTTA GET BACK! FRICKIN YAKOV!_

_I didn't know where to get out I was still so disoriented and my head was hurting so damn bad and I was wiping blood from my nose and getting it all over her floor and so all I could do was rush around the room for some awkward seconds while everyone stared at me and then I realized like I need to use someone's phone to call the PPDC but no I can't OF COURSE I CAN'T THIS IS THE BLACK TIGER and I shoulda just not listened to what Yurio said his Grandma said about not bringing my phone- in the end think I said something like 'uhhhhhthanks for everything and - and I'LL MAYBE COME WORK FOR YOU!' and I just rushed back out where Lilia's punk escort was waiting to take me back to her dockside chopper pad and I'm a mess, I was holding my nose and now there's blood on my shirt but someone gave me a handkerchief_

_and UGH WHY DOES THIS HELICOPTER TAKE SO LONG TO GET OFF THE FRICKIN GROUND?! I KNEW IT! I WAS SO FRICKIN RIGHT! I was so right! Yakov needs to call back the mission or else -- they need a biosignature to get in! The Breach might slam closed on them! The Breach might slam closed on my brother! Damn you Yakov!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no clue what to call this chapter. I kinda wanted to call it "Damn You, Yakov" but that's pretty much the whole story sooooo . . . .  
> (tiny pleading voice) if u like this story plz comment and tell me why, I also like critique, critique is gud  
> and happy Canada 150th!!!


	32. It Is, It's Not

They're waiting for 5 minutes 34 seconds precisely, weapons drawn, unmoving statues. Then, from Yurio, "Get ready, they're coming," and seconds later the wall of watery fire and crackling netted blue shivers and shatters aside as what is first an indistinguishable mass of 20,000 tons of alien emerges, birthed by the throat. Watery tongues of energy judder out as shock waves fling the Jaegers backwards, the earth shaking under their feet.

"Four of them," Yurio clarifies, sounding tense.

Tango's in front, Cherno slightly behind on the left and Phoenix slightly behind on the right. There's not enough time to distinguish one Kaiju from the other as the mass floods quickly to the Tango's right and all Viktor and Yuuri can do is deliver a twisting punch to that side, their vision for a moment obscured by the Kaiju all in such a concentrated group, but flowing around the Tango as their strike deflects.

The Tango turns as the group of  _one, two, three, sure enough, four_ Kaiju descend upon the Phoenix who sees them coming, drops to its knees and Sting blades stab up.

 _"-we have two category fives-"_ LOCCENT's saying, and the other two are clearly Scunner.

There's no time to waste as  _Some help here!_ grits through the comm lines from Otabek,  _This one's a real bitch!_ from Yurio, and Viktor-Yuuri rip off a modulus-three from the energycaster and stalk forward, recharging immediately as the blue glob of energy impacts one of the Kaiju. Cherno's already on it, pulling one of the Kaiju back. The stocky Jaeger muscles a Scunner by its tail and when it turns back to confront her, Cherno unleashes an elbow-boosted nickel-roll punch straight to its face that lets off a visible shockwave through the water, knocking the Tango back and even the beastly tangle descended on the Phoenix.

The Tango lets off one more modulus-three, no time to charge anything further, and with one hand lunges for a snaking three-way tail lashing back and forth. Catching it, and before it can whip them away, the Tango uses the other hand, the chain sword, to hack down in a mighty arc and sever that dangerous-looking muscled limb from what must be the new category five.

" _-codename Slattern, watch for the tails-"_ LOCCENT says.

The offended Kaiju, Slattern so it is, whirls from its current prey, the Phoenix, sporting twin stab marks on its face already. Its face is long and snouted with four horns extending like an X, two from its crown, two from its lower jaw. It unfolds itself towards the Tango -  _holy shit, it's huge! Double the size of a Raiju -_  and opens its mouth, lets loose a pulse of soundwaves that blast everything in its radius.

Viktor and Yuuri go tumbling as the Tango's sent head-over-heels like a brush of seaweed. Chunks of rocky outcrop break off and fly past them, some thunk and deflect off their thighs and shoulders.  _Quick, we'll hit the Breach -_ in the disorientation, they stab down the chain sword and sink into the sand and hold on as another shockwave comes smashing into their Jaeger's chest and head and knuckles, clasped around the hilt of the chain sword.

Together, they weather it.

Together they rise back up and put their jets on full blast, ready the chain sword for a jab, fly at the Slattern, barrelling through the waves.

Oh, the beast is  _huge,_ no wonder it's a category five, it's too obviously larger than any Jaeger and its chest and haunches are decorated with impressive bony spikes. Head to tail, gotta be a couple hundred meters.

_Let's take this thing down._

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This Slattern, missing its tail, face stabbed and burning with the Phoenix's blades, is smart enough to figure out that if it wants to reach its target, it has to defeat the friends of its enemies first. And it would love to make an example of this one in particular, which it needs help to do, which it's called the other Kaiju for. Slattern number two leaves its task of stripping Phoenix's chest of armor with its triple-crowned tail, and races to assist its co-combatant.

Slattern one bows out of the way as the little metal knight comes shooting towards it; its kin races and pushes into the sand with its rear legs and claws, whips its tail around, handily wraps like a slap-bracelet around the Tango's sword arm and chest, whirling around with the momentum, sending up a curtain of sand in a messy tornado.

Slattern one roars with glee, snaking off through the waves after the distress cry of its Scunner minion, whose already horridly ugly face has been mightily disfigured by punch after punch from the sturdy Cherno. Slattern scoffs at the inability of its lesser companions to defeat this tiny metal enemy; the Scunner  _has_ pinned the Cherno down to the ocean floor, but this keeps its limbs planted and defenseless while the Cherno hammers up into its face and skull.

The injured Slattern uses its pain as motivation and chomps onto the Cherno's sloped helm, begging for purchase in the metal with its teeth - each tooth would be as large as the tiny, inferior beasts inside the metal shell - planting its fused front arms in the ground. The dull Scunner gets the idea and puts pressure down on the Cherno's lower half, the two Kaiju pulling their foe apart.

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One hand bracing half of the remaining Scunner's battering horns, the Phoenix attempts to hold off the snapping toothed beak while getting an underside stab in, but the Scunner's defenses are too thick and the Slattern has used its chest spikes to score crevasses in the Phoenix's chest, rendering the K-missiles useless. The Phoenix's leg jets activate to burst back for distance, but Scunner powerfully twists its head down to plant the free side of its hammerhead in the ocean floor in the crook of the Phoenix's neck and shoulder. The Jaeger's pinned on its back, jets futile, one hand free but Sting blade snapped off previously by a Slattern. Scunner steps onto one of the Phoenix's knees with a thick-clawed foot, then, transfers its weight into that step.

"-AUGH! -" comes through the comms, it's Yurio, " - K-missiles won't fire, Sting blades compromi-" it cuts out, in Viktor-Yuuri's ears but they're in a bind, quite literally. Yuuri's arm, the sword arm, is tightly constricted by the Slattern, smushed straight against the helm. Viktor's yelling together with his copilot as they struggle to free Viktor's arm between the coils of the Slattern's tail. The Kaiju is pulling them close to its chest, dragging them down, they have a good view of the Phoenix as the Scunner gloats and treads and claws its disabled opponent. The Tango's own alien captor powerfully extends its bony chest spikes, like huge stalactites, and bends low to scrape gratingly into the Jaeger - Viktor-Yuuri roll and squirm,  _not the payload, not the payload! -_ and they take damage to Yuuri's side and sword arm but in that moment the other arm busts free of the tail coils.

They're one consciousness in the heat of battle, melting two wills into one dangerous resolve. They transfer the chain sword to their left hand and, through the pain in the right side, elbow up and back, screaming  _NO!_ as the Scunner rears back to deliver a headbutt to the helpless Phoenix. There's no way they can jet the couple hundred meters in time, so the energycaster's already charging up.  _Get free! -_ and they struggle as the Slattern rears back and prepares for another grating pass at the Jaeger at its mercies, but they swing the chain sword overhead and bring it to point straight at the Slattern's neck as they're drawn in.

Impact before the Kaiju can reverse the motion, tail unwraps off the Tango that's now only anchored by its swordpoint buried in Slattern's neck,  _Fourth . . . modulus . . . loaded,_ and by then they hear the denting  _thunking_ crash of the Scunner's blow to the Phoenix.

"COMING!" they shout into the comms, frantic, they can't see what happened. Now they jet, now they thrust themselves forward, impaling the Slattern further and deeper, feeling the resistance of bone and flesh simulated through them by the drivesuits and docks. Slattern's three-ended tails thick as tree trunks come stabbing after them and swat, pull, snap, entwine the Jaeger and its sword out but, by then -  _Fifth . . . modulus . . . loaded -_ they've gone deep enough to earn a letup in the relentless onslaught from the Slattern. They turn, release the chain sword to right arm again and extend the left, the energycaster, to the hulking Scunner and release the plasma blast. The white-blue projectile propagates quickly through the waves, impacts and hungrily eats up the ready fuel, Kaiju flesh.

Ejection of the energycaster at almost full power makes Viktor's arm shudder and feel like the bones are going to come undone; backlash shoves the Tango against the chest spikes of the Slattern and water contaminated with thick blue blood leaking from its deep neck wound covers the Tango's vision just as Viktor finds that his right arm, Yuuri's, is immobile. They want to do a two-handed overhead chop to finish this thing off but they  _can't move their arm,_ the Slattern has completely doughnutted it, encased it in coils of its tail and yanks the whole Jaeger up through the waves a stomach-sinking vertical distance to its waiting maw. Sets the Tango's left shoulder, Viktor's, inside its toothed jaw and, like eating meat off a bone, clamps down and rips away - except its teeth stick down somewhere around the bicep and Viktor's arm goes white and his mind and nerves all spit fire as the whole of the Tango's left arm tears away from the shoulder socket.

Sparks, free wires, connections, bundles of technological veins and arteries and industrial flesh and bones.

Slattern disdainfully tosses the Tango away, uncoiling its tail, and spits out its severed limb.

Viktor's useless, incapacitated by the pain and shock as the neural interface goes haywire.

He can't process anything.

The drift is pure colorlessness, shock of white bursts out from Viktor, Yuuri's lacing the edges, thin, an urgent red, Viktor  _can't,_ he feels rather than hears the scream shred through his throat.

The drift's shaking and coming apart, Viktor's lost Yuuri's voice, he's searching for it but he can't find it, can't see anything through the shock and pain, he's desperate,  _stay close to me Yuuri -_

\- and he's there, the white, the field of pain that's all Viktor's suddenly blossoms with a fierceness and blue and red and someone takes the pressure off his vocal cords, someone is there in his pain with him and somehow it's not pain anymore. It's another paradox-that's-not-a-paradox. It's another stupid fucking thing there's no word for. It's the combination, it's the folding of two worlds over each other to make something so much better, and those are - well, one is pain - the other - the other must be love.

Most definitely, it is  _love._

 _Yuuri,_ Viktor thinks so completely,  _is_ so completely, he brings him back to awareness and they fall into perfect step and sequence from where the Slattern has been slapping and stabbing the Tango like a plaything, scoring and puncturing its chest and helm, almost having  _fun._

The Tango comes back, comes back alive, chain sword's still in the right arm and the jets are still online -  _FINISH THIS! -_ they leap back into plan, overhead two-handed chop (it's not physically two-handed, but in the drift, nothing could be clearer, it's both of them, it's their heart and muscle as one), spinning back, stab in from the other side where their last stroke emerged.

Deathblow as the Slattern blasts out another one of those damaging soundwaves, but the Tango's anchored deep, holds on, and then, in the fraction of stillness where Viktor-Yuuri braces for another wrap from the Kaiju's tail, LOCCENT says:

" _Slattern signature down! Tango, get to the breach! Your window's closing!"_

 _"_ Go!" comes over the comms from Mila and Sara. "We have the rest!"

Viktor-Yuuri gets the message, glances to ensure the Phoenix has been freed - it has, the energycaster did its work on the Scunner - and pivots, strides off at a jet-sped run to the Breach. Their combined consciousness, together, initiates the payload according to the drilled plan.

Still running one-armed, still running injured, chest and side. Still  _running._ How? Only one answer: the pilots of the Coyote Tango have got something no one else does.

The AI counts down remaining meters to the otherworldly waterflames marking the deep passage to the world where the Kaiju originate.

"Hurry, Tango!" LOCCENT urges, Minako's voice.

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_Hh! Hh! Hh, hh, hh -_

_BANG, BANG bang bang!_

_Hh, hh, phew, lemmein, LET ME IN! it's Mari, hh, hhh, come on I sprinted here from the guest landing pad - yes THANK YOU let me in- I gotta - LOCCENT -_

_Hh, hh, hh-_

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Everyone is involuntary half-standing or full-standing in LOCCENT, hands on their heads or arms tightly crossed or slapping their instruments and not one eye is off the feed any second it can spare; yelling, Yakov's shouting above all has been dominate for the last several minutes but now it's just an extremely tense silence as the Tango bursts towards the Breach and the figures and numbers on Guang-Hong's projection screen scroll tighter and tighter.

"They'll make it," Minako says in a threadbare tone, clustered tight around Guang-Hong along with everyone else who counts.

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50.

30.

10 -

Viktor-Yuuri flow in the drift, flow with the trained plan ingrained into them, jump over the ledge into the pit, fire jets according to LOCCENT remote command for positioning, ready ejection, boot up payload locks to release - everything goes bright,  _bright_ orange in their vision so it's difficult to see the readout lights overlaid, and nets of that blue electricity start to race across the Tango's damaged metal hide.  _Nets, meant for catching things -_

" _Positioning achieved!"_

"Payload unlocking in 5! 4! 3!-"  _are we slowing? we're slowing down, but jets are at maximum -_ "-2! 1!"

chINK-chINK-chINK in close succession as the payload unlocks, stripping the Tango of its weight.

"FULL REVERSE!"

The Tango curls and flips in the opposite direction, jets flicking off, second to recalibrate direction, jets on. They're off the way they came. LOCCENT starts counting to ejection from 5, five of the longest seconds of  _Viktor-Yuuri's_ life while the payload speeds downwards yet.

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Except it's not.

At the exact same time the Tango's pilots reversed, just after they dropped the payload, a scientist who was supposed to be demurely decoding biosignatures in her lab burst into LOCCENT, screaming like a madwoman,

"DON'T DO IT! Call it off! It's NOT GONNA WORK!"

But not everyone can afford to look at her. Minako's looking at the payload.

Which is not speeding downward.

It's slowing.

The scientist must push herself through to the front.

"It's not passing the critical point!" Minako's yelling as the tracker slows to a stop on the virtual, projected map, pointing.

"GET IT IN THE THROAT NOW!" Yakov yells over her.

The scientist elbows in beside the Marshal.

"Oh FRICK, you did it?! OH HELL," she shouts, while Minako's gesturing emphatically, shaking her head,

"I don't KNOW what's HAPPENING!"

"Look," Guang-Hong says meekly, and everyone does, and the load tracker is going back  _up._ As if shot from a gun. Deflected.

The Tango's just out of the breach now. That's not that far.

"We must detonate it NOW," Minako says straight to the Marshal.

" _NO,_ you'll kill Yuur-" the scientist's cut off.

"We still have a chance to shut down the Breach-"

"You'll  _kill my broth-"_

But Yakov's already nodded at Guang-Hong, who gulps and obeys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somewhere I read some advice about writing that basically said, put your characters thru the shittiest shit u can think of. so I, angst-addicted fiction consumer that I am, gladly take said advice


	33. Onwards

1.2 megatons of TNT explode just a hundred meters into the Breach.

The Tango's a couple hundred meters out of the Breach.

That's not that far.

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The shatterdome's waiting with open arms for the returning Jaegers. LOCCENT lost every signal after the blast, but regained two out of three, soon enough.

Two out of three.

Yuri Plisetsky and Otabek Altin were torpedoed several hundred meters through the water by the blast but they managed to resurface. Phoenix battle-scarred, chest and back and arms and legs scored and chewed and stabbed, they got the message to return to a pickup point about a half-hour's walk from where they are now.

Mila and Sara tumbled head-over-heels, but the sturdy Cherno is no more than dented from hitting some rocky obstacles and closer back to home after the explosion. She'd kicked off the Scunner, Tesla-fisted the other Slattern, made relatively quick work of the two, though not in time to help the Phoenix. The Cherno has also told to return to the intercept point.

"Tango? Yuuri, Viktor? LOCCENT, we have a read on the Tango?" Mila had asked.

" _Still establishing reconnection,"_ LOCCENT had said.

" _We'll bring them back, Rangers, now you come home_ ," Yakov's voice was unmistakable.

"What if they need us?" Sara had asked.

"We're going back, we're no use, can't fight much more," Yurio said.

"Alright, we're with you," came Sara's tone. "LOCCENT, did it work?"

"Yeah, is the Breach . . . ?" from Yurio.

" _Still gathering data. The blast damaged some instruments. We'll let you know when we discover anything."_

The Cherno and Phoenix find each other after being separated by the blast.

"Actually how damaged are you? . . . I just think we need to have a look around for the Tango while we're here," Mila says through the comms.

"A bit," comes Otabek's serious tone. But, to everyone listening, that means  _a lot._

"OK," is all Mila says, and they remain in-plan, in-step.

LOCCENT says nothing further for the next twenty-seven minutes it takes the Jaegers to reach the intercept point. Neither do the Rangers. Every so often, the Jaegers will turn back, do a visual sweep, searching for their third member, but nothing. Their journey's interrupted by quietly powerful shakings of the ocean floor, vibrating through the waves, pulses speaking of a stronger undertone.

"You're picking up this seismic activity, right?" Mila says to LOCCENT.

" _We're evacuating, yes, sending word up and down the rim,"_ LOCCENT says.

It's serious.

The promising fleet of helicopters crawls, black dots through the sky, toward the waiting Jaegers, battle-tired, ready to return - or maybe not so much, missing a comrade, but they must.

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Somehow, they made it.

Viktor thinks  _they_ and reaches deep in the drift, comes up dripping with fright and feeling Yuuri all around him still ( _he hasn't let go yet_ ) but not hearing him, he's just the most basal of murmurs, and responsibility falls heavily on Viktor.

Viktor comes back to his body because he has to. It seems like there's the option to stay out, to float in the drift knowing Yuuri's there. To not return to the pain he knows his body's in. To stay with Yuuri.

But no matter how fleetingly comforting it is to remain deep in the drift with Yuuri, Viktor knows they need a tether. Yuuri's not talking, he's not awake, and if Viktor doesn't get back to reality and do the work, they'll lose full consciousness together, he's got the feeling. They'll be stuck in the drift when it feathers away to nothing and they both leave it empty.

Sensations roar and race through his spine and neck and limbs and his eyes  _hurt,_ he's back, he's gasping, there's a long crack down his field of vision and only red,  _red_ warning signs everywhere insead of the comfortingly multi-colored diagnostics.

First thing to notice is the burning pain in his left arm and shoulder. It's relentless. It's not residual. It feels like something is  _there,_ tearing at it right now, but he looks, and there's not.

Next, visual clarity, he's looking at a mass of grey, far away, angry and furled clouds, framed by jagged shards of the Tango's blue helm.

So then he's on his back, but he's pitched on a side, slanted.

Dully there's the  _fwooshing_ whir somewhere in his awareness of the Tango's jets going. Overlaid voices, too calm for what the situation warrants, are multiple warnings from the AI:  _Fuel low, 19% remaining, Left arm compromised (_ figured so, Viktor thinks),  _Energycaster damaged, Connpod compromised - ejection failed, Communications down._

He turns his head to look at Yuuri in the dim light; the Tango's headlamp has shut off.

Yuuri's completely still, eyes closed, rain splattering down through the crushed helm onto his drivesuit, scored with impact of the explosion debris. His left leg hangs free, the dock splintered by the explosion as well. The whole Connpod looks like it was subjected to a concentrated meteor blast, and if Viktor could turn to see behind him, he's sure there will be chunks of both ocean debris and the Tango's infastructure collected at the back.

Viktor takes a couple seconds to brace himself, fighting to stay conscious through the neural screaming from his left shoulder and arm. He reaches for the control panel, still hanging on with its rows of buttons and switches, no telling if they're still working or not. Diverts power control all the way over to his hemisphere.

A couple more seconds to bring his body up to speed with that decision.

They're still in the drift, though far apart and vague as it is, Viktor thinks foggily; he has to try to pull both their weight, for now.

He's got to stand the Tango up on its own and he has no clue how crippled she is, only that the back and foot thrusters currently keep her afloat.

The AI fills his ears with buzzwords:  _critical, damaged, compromised._

_Here goes._

He heaves himself, still wired into the Jaeger's interface, up, dock straining, limbs shaking against their mechanical holds because he's used all his adrenaline by this point. Arm and shoulder continue to rev full-force waves of numbing and overwhelming pain through the limb. Might not even be this bad if his actual arm were ripped off, for the Tango's electrical systems would, under normal conditions, have given him a natural warning dose and jumped back down to something manageable, but everything's running haywire and the drivesuit's shortcircuiting volts into his nerves. He's sure his skin's burning under the sleek armor, under the connecting wires. Then his drivesuit's taken damage on the front; he looks down; he's sure he's bruised and maybe bleeding, the protection's been split and skin's open. Same goes for Yuuri.

Water sloshing in the cockpit leaps out and splashes over the jagged edge of the shattered helm as the behemoth slowly,  _slowly_ finds its balance, lone pilot, no longer a dancer, now a war casualty.

The pure effort of getting the Tango upright leaves Viktor gasping and head swimming, letting himself hang in the dock for several seconds. His arm - his arm, the pain doesn't let up, he would scream but he's at his wits' end for how to react.

No chance of a diveseal with the helm like this. Navigation maps are offline. The screen's ringed by an analog compass, though, and this is all Viktor has - he reaches for the front instrument panel because the pain in his arm is too overwhelming, he almost can't think. He swipes, lurches, misses,  _fuck it! -_ manually goes for the damaged shoulder guard and rips it off, peels back the under layer of thermal, circuit-embedded fabric, desperately pries off the upper arm guards and tugs at the suit fiercely. So it is he manages to tear it off and, with it, the connections that mistakenly give him the experience of his arm continually being ripped from the socket.

There's still pain, for sure, skin's raw and bloody and has bits of metal and black fabric imprinted in it, but it's so much better.

He breathes shakily. Vision improves. Awareness improves.

"Stats on right . . . hemisphere," he chokes out, throat raw, hoping the AI's good to understand him. It does. Other warnings shut off mid-sentence abruptly, giving way to,

_Shock conditions detected. Drift engaged._

In the drift, Yuuri's just a cloud, a hitchhiker. And Viktor knows why, it's from Yuuri sharing his pain, saving him, saving  _them,_ bringing him back. Bringing him through, enabling them to fight on far enough, keep going.

He's probably still doing it.

The stamina is only a taste of the will behind it, the man behind it.

But he's only a man. He's just a man. And he's lying too close to comatose for Viktor to give anything less than his all to save him (and them, if possible).

The former-General, the now-Ranger, sinks his weight into his feet, they're solid in the docks. He reads the latitude and longitude. He tries calling LOCCENT. Nothing. Everything is grey and stormy and darkening outside; seaspray tosses through the air. As the clouds broil, rain starts to sheet down. He can't see any fellow Jaegers, and for good reason: the Tango's been blasted and wave-carried much farther north than the Breach opening in this elapsed time. Even if Hong Kong sends out 'copters to cable them back . . . even if somehow they can guess where they are . . . they'll sink before they're rescued.

So, Viktor has to try to make land.

He'll have to move fast. The right knee's damaged, and diverting power to all these sore spots is sapping the reactor's fuel.

He knows the coordinates of the old Chukotka peninsula base by heart.

Lines up the Tango so she's pointing that way.

There's a sudden huge  _pitch_ forward, feels like something slams into the half-submerged Jaeger and drags it on. Viktor reacts, struggling to keep the helm above water, holds on, muscles screaming until the blast lulls and he jets the Tango back to its upright position. He can't submerge, but he can slow-walk through the waves using her powerful jets.

Quakes, tsunamis, that's what's coming.

So he starts moving.

One foot in front of the other.

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Without the task of moving the metal beasts through the waves and balancing, fighting the whispers of the coming disasters set off by the explosion, the pilots communicate more with LOCCENT and each other as they're cabled up and airlifted. They become bolder at asking for news of what's happened until a tense be-all and end-all statement comes from Yakov to quiet them.

The swaying of the Jaegers from the cables as the storm gathers, rain starting to fall, matches the unsteadiness in their stomachs.

No news is usually good news, in the Jaeger program, but not today.

Plisetsky and Altin communicate privately.

_They better pick up the Tango fast. Need to show some gratitude for saving us from getting decapitated by the Scunner back in there,_ Plisetsky says.

_Hm,_ Altin says, sounding like agreement.

_LOCCENT doesn't want to tell us anything, maybe it didn't fucking work, maybe the Tango's -_

_Stop worrying. It does nothing._

_Fuck, Otabek! You realize what just happened? We practically got a sept - hept - like a seventh event -_

_Septutple._

_\- and like, I'm pretty fucking sure the explosion wasn't supposed to go off like that. It should have been deep down in the breach where we couldn't feel it, yeah?_

_You talk too much._

_I don't think it worked. I wonder how much of the coast they're evacuating. Fuck Yakov._

_How do you know your grandmother's telling the truth? She works in an illegal organization. She's probably very good at telling lies._

_I believe her, OK? Yakov better have fucking told dedushka about why she left him, before dedushka died._

_At least put all this anger into fighting._

_What, you think I didn't? You think I fucking didn't? We're_ both  _hurting all over._

_. . . . You weren't making it up, about the Kaiju coming straight for you._

_What made you think I was? Mari's the one who figured it out. Too scared to pilot with me now? Too much of a challenge?_

_Not at all. I like a challenge._

_Then stop sounding so fucking upset about it._

_. . . . After we get out of medical, we celebrate surviving._

_Sure. Like that's going to happen. I have a feeling they're gonna need us right away again._

_The Phoenix needs repairs. We have a lot of time. To fuck. My room, first._

_That some kind of medal for you, now? It doesn't mean anything, you and I. You still got nothing on me._

_. . . But you like it._

_We're not fucking in your bunker. How much of a neat freak you are gives me fucking convulsions. All those long, high-brow books you've probably never read. Lined up in some OCD row alphabetical by-_

_I've read most of them._

_We fuck in my bunker._

_Fine._

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Viktor's vision starts to blur a little as he trudges on, like the images from each eye are going slightly off-kilter from each other. He checks his exposed shoulder and he's not sure if it's from the suit damage or if there are blotches of sore, black-blue appearing.

Open skin, water right near the site of a Kaiju fight - Kaiju blue poisoning is very likely, he realizes suddenly.  _Yuuri._ But if he gets out of his dock, he might not get back in.

There's a stock of anti-blue, supposed to be, in container 2a, back of the Connpod.

That's first business when they get ashore. He hopes it hasn't been long. First shot needs to be administered within an hour for best effects. It's still good hours after the fact, but, not  _as_ good.

Time reads 5:46 p.m. He must have been out for a half hour.

(He might have to get out of his dock after all. The delicate cost-benefit analysis is too much work for him right now.)

Every so often the faint tide that is Yuuri, lapping around their consciousnesses, in the same space but having separated some, will fade low down past Viktor's detection and he manages to hold onto that, bring him back up.

But Yuuri eventually relapses again and Viktor's so very  _fucking_ afraid one of these times Yuuri will leave the drift empty, like - like Phichit did with Yuuri himself.

He has to assume no one knows where they are or even that they are.

He's gotta keep moving.

One foot in front of the other, dragging his sore body, Tango sloshing along exhaustedly, gaze broken, left shoulder joint still a visceral mess of ripped and torn wires and connections.

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_This is Mari . . . back in. I'm really a prisoner now. Yakov literally got some PPDC military on stand-by to drag me in the board room and lock me in._

_I can't do anything._

_They detonated the payload with my brother not even 500 metres out from it. But they'll evacuate the entire rim. Chah!_

_My only hope is that the Phoenix and the Cherno Alpha will go back to look for them._

_But that's if Yakov lets them._

_He won't._

_I know what 1.2 megatons of TNT'll do. It'll kill you. The Breach I know for damn fact isn't closed, and Yuuri might be dead._

_I hate the Jaeger program. I hate what Yakov's made it. If he would have LISTENED to me. If he would have let Viktor stay on and make some decisions._

_Please, let Yuuri be alive._

_Mari out._

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The head of the predictions Analysis team wears a no-nonsense black-and-white dress-and-jacket combination, black pumps. Her job is nowhere near from done; today, she'll have to be working with the others in her group to figure out what the Breach is like now; if and when another attack can be expected.

The easiest, and perhaps most important, observation has already been made from the surviving instruments at the Breach: it's not closed.

The payload exploding still below the ocean floor, in the chasm, also means that tectonic activity has been triggered.

The shatterdome is a hive of movement to prepare the fortress for quakes and tidal waves. The underwater bays are prepped to receive Jaegers and quickly close; the huge outdoor expanse of landing areas and cargo lanes clears urgently. Already tremors rumble through the structure.

From the Indonesian islands and Australia up to the northern parts of Russia, through Vietnam, the Phillipines, China and Japan, cities evacuate or open up safe shelters.

Minako Okukawa  _could_ be working with predictions, collaborating with the UN to gather as much accurate information about quake magnitude and where the most disaster is likely to ensue, but she's not.

She opens the board room with a key card, enters, and closes the door behind her.

On the floor, past the expansive, gleaming table with chairs around it, almost to the corner with the spindly fig tree, sits the scientist, the most knowledgeable and experienced in the world at this moment, in Kaiju biology, looking very small and angry and with tear stains below her red eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mari," Minako sighs tightly.

"You're  _not,_ " Mari replies, not looking at the woman across the room from her. "How could you make the call like that? You had to have frickin' known that the payload had already deflected! It wouldn't shut the breach!"

"There was a  _slight_ chance, according to our computer model-"

"I  _don't care! You could have left them more time to get away! But now you've got an earthquake and possible tsunami on your hands as well! It was stupid! So damn stupid!"_ Mari has risen and stalked over to Minako, yelling, on her toes, and she puts her hand up in a fist like she'll hit the taller woman, but doesn't.

"The only goal of this mission was to close the Breach," Minako says, still tight-lipped. "Yuuri already knew the risks-"

"Are they at least sending the Phoenix and Cherno out to look for them?"

Minako shakes her head, long brown hair hanging straight.

"Helicopters?"

Only another shake of the head.

" _Anything?_ "

"Yakov will send out a search and rescue party, after we ensure all major Pacific rim cities are prepared and our own crew is back in the shatterdown, if it's still safe."

" _How-"_ Mari gestures frantically, complete words not finding their way out of her mouth.

"Mari, you know this," Minako says, crossing her arms, "That both Viktor and Yuuri knew what they were signing up for, and that they're two lives - two important lives - but the PPDC mandate is to save the majority, not the minority. We're all biased towards our own."

Mari's face is twisted up in what is most easily described as fury.

"Easy for you to say when you don't give a  _damn_ about anything but numbers and rules-"

"Mari, now is  _not_ the time to call our - friendship, into question-"

Mari lunges up to jab a finger in Minako's face. "Oh  _yes it is,_ Yakov sends you off to work under his thumb 24/7, he won't listen to me, keeps me under house arrest, I never  _see_ you, never hear any support from you, you completely vanished, except, oh yes, standing by his side in LOCCENT and seeing Rangers off like the perfect maths girl you are, Yakov's little-"

"I came in here to try and comfort you, but I see you refuse to be comforted," Minako cuts the scientist short. "Can't you see? You're the problem, Mari," she sighs. "You don't grasp it. You don't understand  _why_ protocol exists. It's not some fanciful torture device. Rules make  _sense._ If you had followed them from the start, you would have saved yourself all this pain."

Mari's eyes switch back and forth, and she seems to have some comeback on the tip of her tongue, but in the end her posture disengages and she wraps her arms around herself.

"Is there a chance Yuuri's still survived?" is all she asks.

Minako tightly gives a nod of her head. "There is. We lost communication and tracking. It certainly doesn't mean they died."

"1.2 million tons of TNT not 500 meters from them."

"It wasn't quite that much. We were duped on the black market. We paid for a larger explosion than what happened."

"Huh?"

Minako's gaze only grows more impersonal.

"But I wouldn't be surprised if you knew that already," she says, her tone acidic, and leaves.

"HEY!  _If you - if Yakov let me do the drift earlier - none of this would have happened! YOU HEAR ME?"_ By now Mari is banging on the closed door. " _Do you hear me?_ Do you hear me?" Sobs interrupt her, choke her volume down to just a hoarse whisper.

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[All the shitty art is here](http://spelon-berry.tumblr.com/tagged/pacific-rim-au)


	34. Priorities

The shatterdome's finished its own emergency procedures and the Pacific rim cities are moving people out or inside strongholds, small waves of tremors foreboding, when the Phoenix and the Cherno Alpha arrive back.

There's no cheering.

The pilots demand to know what's going on; as soon as they're out of the drivesuit room, it's very evident in the main shatterdome that machinery is shelved, stopped, the cranes are folded up or cabled strong. Preparing for a battering.

While the Rangers of the Phoenix Fist are sent to medical for a host of burns and bruises, the Cherno Alpha's crew are invited to the quick run-down being held in LOCCENT upstairs.

Mila Babicheva and Sara Crispino's expressions sour when it becomes clear from Yakov's detailing (non-live-in PPDC staff have been flown out, everyone is to stay in their designated areas, analysis will get as much quake information as they can and then continue to gather data on what breach activity will happen next and when) that Operation Pitfall has not succeeded.

"Marshal, are we not going to send out a team to retrieve the Tango?" Sara's low and strong voice cuts through all the boring procedural dialogue.

Yakov Feltsman folds his arms.

"Unfortunately, we lost contact with the Tango too early to gather data on their trajectory and therefore, where they could be right now. With storms coming and a hundred fifty million square kilometers to search, we're going to sit out until everything's passed over," the Marshal says.

"They must not have been  _too_ far from the Breach! If you had given us another hour, we could've done some searching. Sent the Phoenix Fist back for repairs, but the Cherno had some more fight left. And you must have seen it from LOCCENT - we were tied up, the Phoenix was pinned, the Tango saved the Phoenix. Viktor and Yuuri, they  _have_ to be priority. Sir," Mila responds.

"We must entrust the Tango's fate to their Rangers for the time being. Our airforce is completely occupied ensuring that millions of people along the Rim are safe. We cannot spare a fleet to go on a goose chase cabling up two extremely capable Rangers. We were prepared for this outcome," Yakov says.

Beside him, Minako is stiff at attention.

"But not for total failure," murmurs Sara, frowning.

"Ranger, I'm just as disappointed as everyone else in this room. But criticising what's now the past is  _not_ part of your job description," the Marshal says, his voice carrying.

"How bad is the quaking going to be?" someone asks, as, right on clue, the lights flicker and the floor trembles.

"Yeah, how fast is the tsunami going to arrive?"

"The usual associated with such a large Breach opening should reach land in roughly . . . twenty minutes. However, due to the explosion and further activity we're monitoring, the worst might take anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple of hours. It's going to travel fast, and the Breach has been unstable since the hit, generating more shockwaves along the east and west Pacific plates," Minako says. "Keep your ears open, we will notify everyone whenever we have more information."

"To your duties," the Marshal dismisses those assembled.

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There's some faint, low-lying dark blur on the horizon now as rain lashes down and the waves rhythmically, twenty minutes apart, pull at the Tango. The Wall has only been completed south of here; relatively few people live this far north, so that mass is just land. (Good, because Viktor doesn't want to, can't, deal with getting over the Wall at this point.) Luckily, even though the undertow caused by tremors in the Earth's crust threatens to off-balance the Jaeger, Viktor's learned to just let his machine be carried by the powerful surges, a boost towards his destination.

Rain lashes down.

He's reached the hour mark. He knows that the blue blotchiness on his own exposed skin isn't just bruising. If he needs anti-blue, then Yuuri likely does too.

With the horizon in sight, he feels steady enough to go and get the injections from compartment 2a. The pons wires will stretch back there, so he can stay in drift.

It takes longer than he'd like to get himself out of the dock, which doesn't want to let him go since he's manually ripped off the left shoulder connection. He sets the Jaeger to keep itself up for now and as soon as he's out of the supports his legs give way and he ends up on hands and knees, splayed on the floor, which is streaked with shards of the helm, seaweed, residual layer of ocean water, and mechanical debris. Unsteadily but urgently he rises, keeping his throbbing left arm as still as possible, wincing from the impact of his fall. Other arm goes across the midsection of the drivesuit, where it's been cut, pierced. Of course his left knee hurts as well. And his head.

There's a general sense, though, that Yuuri's still shouldering some of the pain: what fraction, Viktor can't tell, but they're together in this. Well, Yuuri's trapped in it, motionless in the drift.

Viktor stumbles back past the emergency hatch and over the raised plate, the huge series of covered saw-edged gears driven by the Tango's reactor causing the platform under his feet to judder.

_Fuel low. 9%,_ the AI warns him.

No convienent top-up stores of uranium-235 hanging around here. He's gotta be fast.

Viktor goes to the compartment that's stencilled '2a' in black on it, but immediately nothing looks good. The back of the Connpod is where all the impact debris has cluttered and many of the drawers are hanging open or dented. He fumbles with the latch, which is broken, and pulls the drawer open.

Six injection slots, five filled with complete anti-blue needles, the sixth shattered and leaking.

Viktor opens the drivesuit compartment on his side and tosses the spare comm equipment out, puts the five shots in there for now. They're small and simple, clear liquid, plastic case with a silver ring protecting the sharp point, clearly labelled  _Tango-1, -2, -3_ etc., KAIJU ANTI-BLUE, USE WITHIN ONE HOUR OF POISONING FOR BEST EFFECTS.

He stumbles/limps over to Yuuri in his dock, tries to pull him forward in their shared mindspace, but Yuuri's presence is still a limp, matterless affair.

This only makes him more desperate as he cups Yuuri's face in his gloved, back-armored hands.

He can see Yuuri breathe, this is good, but there's bluish patching even in the dim light gathering around his cheeks, and that's bad.

He's too beautiful and too still.

Viktor looks at the front of Yuuri's drivesuit. It's split/crushed open, one large crack across the main breastplate and then the abdominal plates broken, shards of the Tango's helm still half-embedded. The layer of thermal suit under is damaged; Viktor looks for blood anywhere but it's hard to tell what's water and what's blood on the dark blue surfaces.

Locating a tear in the neural suit, Viktor finds one and reaches under against Yuuri's skin, comes back up, finds a dark wetness on his glove that is definitely blood. At least Yuuri's not bleeding seriously, but this means the Kaiju blue's been given a way in.

Viktor gives him an injection without second thought.

He has to get moving again.

As he foggily makes his way back over to his dock, struggling to stay on-task and keep rational inventory of the situation, he looks down at his own drivesuit, damaged similarly, only just now fully cluing in that something  _is_ wrong down there.

His own blood seeps over the mess of broken armor; a large, curved chunk of the bottom of his breastplate hangs nearly free; but he can't just tear it off. It will have to be in his way.

Curling over to look, he finds a tear that goes across just below his ribs and tries to see if - oh, he's most definitely infected as well, he knows he's looking at skin but the bluish tone almost matches the drivesuit.

He gives himself an injection, and then there are only three left.

Getting docked again is painful but necessary and soon he mentally kicks his body in motion. He's got to make shore.

_Fuel low. 8%,_ the AI updates.

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A lot of people still live in front of the wall. Ever since a Kaiju took the acclaimed structure down in less than an hour, construction has slowed, not because the UN has stopped funding and pushing it, but because of riots and vandalism. And you can't control people, they'll live where they want to. They'll retreat behind for some kind of safety when the usual minor tsunamis hit, every Breach opening, but come back out and keep living their lives.

Most of the small islands in the waters around the Breach are uninhabited now, too small to have any sort of high ground or defenses against the regular trials with living around the Pacific rim. But nothing has stopped the larger landmasses from continuining to thrive. Well, there's a certain payoff with living close to danger. There's not only a Russian black market for Kaiju materials; other groups spread southwards, and where they are, money is as well.

Since there's no Kaiju threat, many have chosen to disregard the urgency of the emergency broadcast.  _It's not just the usual? Probably only a couple feet higher. We'll be fine!_ All up and down the coastline, some leave their belongings in their houses and casually meander through the open ports in the wall, and some don't even leave their exposed homes, built on high enough ground to withstand the usual sorts of quakes and waves that hit the coastline.

Most survive the two preliminary warning quakes, continuining on with their days. Gathering to designated zones, muttering about the inconvenience, trying to pass the time with talk of politics or grocery prices.

Then, two warning waves. The first rush that gathers on the horizon as only a ripple and stalks evenly towards shore, building height, floods decks and washes and shatters some windows, bowls over and uproots trees.

The second completes what had been started, reaching the Wall on the east coast of China and Korea, the crushing tide up against the major islands' self-structured defenses as well: Japan, the Phillipines' larger islands (to which the smaller islands have had the option of fleeing to), Papua New Guinea, West Papua.

That's all they'll get for a,  _knock knock, it's coming for you._

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"You realize that I have a difficult decision on my hands," the Marshal says to his lead scientist, whose allegiance is in question. "I don't want to know what you had to do to get another Kaiju brain."

"How do you know that's what I did," Mari says, crossing her arms. They're in the boardroom.

"I was going to stop at putting a tracker on your nametag, but Minako suggested adding one on that tie you never remove."

Mari angrily fidgets the thing off her, and, lo and behold, a small device attached.

"Of all the-" she sputters.

"I also don't want to know what you have been doing running around the shatterdome afterhours."

"OK, Marshal, but listen, listen, I actually got something this time -"

"Mari Katsuki, you  _will_ either comply completely with my orders or leave this dome and spend some quality time detained at PPDC headquarters," the Marshal near-thunders. As if on cue, a tremor goes through the floor and chairs - it's not just a ripple this time, it's the beginnings of what's to come. The shakes last for a good thirty seconds and the lights flicker; both grab the edges of the table.

"Well I mean all I'm doing is trying to  _help_ you," Mari continues pleadingly after it seems like the quake has passed, "Because I know now why it didn't work, I think I know what we have to-"

"I do  _not_ and have  _never_ sanctioned any of your wild ideas, forays into dangerous and unfounded experiments, so one more word, Mari, and I'll know what your choice is."

"But-"

"Do you not  _remember_ your supervisor's demise at NUS?" The Marshal rises. "You were the one who saw the danger in her activities, and now you're blind to your own!" He puts his hat back on to leave. "You have until after this storm passes to make your decision. Think about Sofya. My mandate is no less than yours: protection, protecting people under my care."

The Marshal has his back to his scientist already but the reply comes swift and bitter:

"Then protect my brother."

The Marshal only pauses before leaving.

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_OK, Mari. Get yourself together. Yuuri's not dead. Yuuri's not dead. There_ is  _a chance. And as long as that chance holds, I gotta act like he's not dead. He just needs a rescue._

_The PPDC isn't going to give me one._

_Damn them, then._

_There's only one option I have._

_Grab all the top-secret shit I've got on the Jaeger program and sell myself over to the Black Tiger._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pants* TRYING TO FINISH IT AHHH TAKING TOO LONG


	35. Part Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI I increased the rating just to be sure.  
> Also apparently I'm updating this every other day now? wow I hope I can keep this up  
> My outline goes one or two sentences per chapter, but when I write it, it turns into a couple thousand words . . . oops

The Tango's weakening, running on as low power as possible.

 _Fuel level critical,_ is all the AI will say after 5% passes.

Viktor still walks on. He considers cutting the heat to his suit (not Yuuri's), but already the rain sweeps down freezingly with sleet and he's sure his exposed shoulder is going to get some degree of frostbite. He couldn't care, maybe it will stop the blue poisoning from spreading. So he just lowers the heat to minimum.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows the occasional tidal undertows will certainly build to a climax.

He's almost made land. He can do it. He struggles to keep moving, to keep the Tango on course, to keep Yuuri close in the space of the drift (Yuuri, still unresponsive). His vision continues to rebel; after the injection it improved for ten minutes and now it's back to trying to go double and flicker on him.

Visibility's decreasing as the sun goes down, not that it was really out to begin with: all the evidence is that the sky grows a darker grey. But he's sure he's only a couple kilometers from the shore now, and then it will only be less than a kilometer to the old Chukotka base.

But then just as the outline of land gets close enough so it stops blending with the mist and waves, the Tango stalls. Afloat, but stalls.

Viktor, who's felt increasingly more numb and cold, feels an almost-refreshing surge of angry heat in his gut.

Because he's already pressed all the necessary buttons on the middle console to reroute non-essential power to the jets. He  _knows_ there's nothing left.

 _Fuel level critical, jet thrust capacity set to minimum,_ the AI details.

Rain splatters through the jaggedly cracked helm, streams off the upper edges.

"No," Viktor says, or maybe thinks, he doesn't know if his voice works anymore, he strains to resume stride but the electrical resistance won't let him, the dock and harness are solid as statues.

_Unable to complete pilot sequence, please try again._

Viktor tries small steps, barely-there steps. The Tango can do this, they move so slowly, crawl on, but only for a minute or two before the dock stalls up again.

_Unable to complete pilot sequence, please try again._

_Fuel level critical._

_Eject now._

"Fucking ejection's shot," Viktor says, hammering the button, and no response coming.

 _Ejection system compromised,_ the AI agrees.

So they're just going to sink?

So close to shore?

Of course not.

Viktor's coming up with something, an idea that probably means certain death but that's really the outcome either way, when the undertow grabs them, but it's not just an undertow anymore. It's a full-blown tidal wave. It has built up from the epicenter of the Breach into an impassable, one-way monster, more powerful than any Kaiju, unstoppable. Viktor strains to turn and just in time sees the looming watery darkness above them before the tsunami carelessly sweeps the Tango along like a stick.

There's not enough power in the jets to respond to Viktor's straining to keep them upright.

He just lets the dock hold them and the inevitable sweepover of the wave crash into, pummel the Tango.

Disorienting blackness, water and mayhem, steam and smoke, sparks,  _cold,_ spitting out water from his mouth when he thinks there's air.

He's rattled along with the dock, with the Connpod, with the whole of the Tango until finally everything comes to a standstill, after the waters have blasted over the barely treed expanse - _land -_ and rushed back once their massive momentum came to an end.

 _Initiating powerdown in five minutes. Eject now,_ the AI says.

Viktor's completely turned around but he knows he has to get up, he's lying on his side again. He rips himself out of the dock on some burst of hidden adrenaline because  _Yuuri_ and goes to his copilot, the world still spinning - the Connpod is trashed, wires and metal hanging free, illuminated in a dim red glow by emergency backup lights.

He carefully, tenderly almost, takes Yuuri out of the docks.

And he has to take them out of the drift. He has to, to move to the base, because his inner ear has calmed enough to tell him they're on land somehow.

Before this step has to be made, however, and maybe to put it off, he fits himself under an edge of the broken helm and looks out; first towards the sea, so he turns back the other way, his stomach area paining him with the twist.

With the force of the tsunami, the Tango has been tossed up on the shore a good ways, in land by a couple kilometers. The fallen Jaeger has been put straight out on the snow-packed ground, and the Chukotka shatterdome is now east of them, not north.

A little farther than anticipated, too, though Viktor can still see its utilitarian rectangular outline in the dimness.

There's a wind and sparse, spray-like shower of ice crystals, bitterly cold.

Viktor ducks back in, keeping balance on the slanted floor. Keeping rational, he hopes. What will he need? Some sort of sled. There's the side panel on Yuuri's side busted out, that will do just fine; as long as he can cut the lead cable, that will give him something to pull it by. And with any luck, the tsunami will have left the permafrosted ground slick in the cold (because Viktor's got about one-point-two good arms at this point). What else - light would be good. His helmet should have light. He tests the hope; despite the crack down the center, the inset lamps work perfectly. But he needs something brighter to show the way.

He runs over what he knows of the Tango's plans. In the end he's not sure which lamp will work, so he decides to save that for later in case he has to pull them out one-by-one before finding something that works.

In the middle of this process, another wave hits.

Good thing it's not as strong as the previous. Viktor falls back as the impact slaps the breached Tango forward, water sheeting over the back of the helm, but that's about as bad as it gets.

Still, rising to his feet again is a task because his arm's going numb and the smashed, broken armor around his abdomen shifting in any way is not pleasant at all.

Now it's just the matter of getting Yuuri out of the drift and onto the makeshift sled Viktor's hacking down from the wall using a broken rod from elsewhere in the Connpod, kicking it out, skidding to the ground below. Luckily the Tango's head has sort of dislodged from the neck, putting the pilots mostly upright and close-ish to the ground. Viktor can see a rough path off her shoulder and some splayed remnants of the holds that clasped the payload, maybe twenty feet down total.

Viktor pulls a lamp dangling out of the gouged wall and successfully loops the still-lit hellish red thing around his arm.

Ready (not, actually, in reality, he would never be ready for this), he gets on one knee beside Yuuri to sort of brace him in a half-lying down position. One thing first, looking at Yuuri's cheeks, darkening blue again. They both get another injection.

After that, discarding the empty needles, Viktor disconnects Yuuri's drivesuit from the various ports: power, neural interface, sensors I, sensors II, arriving at the pons connection last.

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to keep us here," Viktor murmurs (to himself, and that's a sad fact), still in the grimly silent headspace with Yuuri only a fuzzy rim around Viktor's awareness. His hand grasps the little silver connector at the back of the neck and the two slide-tabs on either side, but makes no move. "I'm sorry," Viktor says, to both himself and Yuuri, because this will break the drift and how they're both holding each other up in there currently.

But they have to move. There's no other chance. The pons keeps them tethered to the dying Jaeger. The AI has long gone silent. The whirring gears in the Tango's heart have ceased to move. The wind outside is louder than any signs of life within the Jaeger's mechanics. Even the emergency lights begin to blink off. The AI is silent as the last five minutes drain empty.

The drift will be the last to go, Viktor's set it, but it  _will_ go.

He could lose Yuuri, now. He could lose himself, too.

He snaps their connection.

Blind with some sort of fear, he scoops Yuuri up even as the full force of pain Yuuri's been shouldering, taking from him in their doubled-as-one universe, slams into him and he feels oh-so-human, staggering, his arm feeling like it will rip from his shoulder, the awareness of a dull, sickening shutting-down soaking from his stomach through to his spine, a throbbing in his right knee that hasn't come fully alive of until now.

Something strained and full of effort escapes his throat as he wills himself not to buckle and, by some miracle, hoists Yuuri up and begins descent as planned.

The obstacle course down to the waiting sled is an eternity, but somehow, eventually, they're there and Viktor sees Yuuri still breathing as he lays him down (might be his imagination, but if it keeps him going, so be it).

He adjusts the light so it gives them a (disappointingly puny) sight ahead.

There's still one anti-blue in his drivesuit.

Testing the surface, he finds the soles of the drivesuit boots will grip fine and the sled is pullable, with his good arm.

(Everything hurts; nothing's really  _good_. It's too real now, without the drift, without Yuuri joined so immediately to him.)

It takes another eternity to trudge/limp only a fraction of the distance towards the blur of Chukotka shatterdome, past the Tango's outstretched right arm, battered and still in death.

He's tempted to look back at the wreckage, but it would hurt him to see his Jaeger like that, so he doesn't.

Then there's only expanse, scarred here and there with bowled-over trees, in front, and the wind playing with his balance, and his mindspace, too frighteningly, his own again.

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Yuri Plisetsky is busy leaving a series of marks as fast and deep as he can down Otabek Altin's back.

The shatterdome screamed and shuddered when the tsunami hit but they didn't stop for that; they didn't stop for the aftershocks; they didn't stop because they're sore all over and Plisetsky's got a bandage on his knee, some neural suit burns up his side, and so does Altin.

Something about the first battle in the drift together, something about being set upon by multiple Kaiju and coming out OK, drives them close in the  _after._

It's not  _nice_ sex.

It's rushed, fighting, a challenge to give in. Pushing each other, driving each other as far as they can. Maybe it might seem like a struggle for dominance, and maybe it is, who can force the other in closer, bend and melt his self-control.

Their drift is similar and the moment now is like their drift; together and apart at the same time, a wildfire that's more than either of them alone, that's more than both of them simultaneously.

 _So fucking good,_ in Plisetsky's words, as he's inside Altin, driving in hard thrusts. The stronger, darker Ranger is just a worship-worthy mess of muscles and flesh that soon tremble and tighten and shudder. Plisetsky follows, fingers scratching long down Altin's back.

There's no gentle in-between, Altin grabs his copilot, straddles him the other way. Plisetsky snaps at fingers as his hand moves too close, presses his advantage, grabbing Altin by the top scruff of his undercut for kisses, or to leave scars on his lips. But Altin's stronger, feints like he'll give in, gets Plisetsky back down and relaxed and then  _his_ hands are in  _his_ hair and his mouth is moving down Plisetsky's chest and-

 _Calling an all-personnel meeting in the mess hall,_ the PA screeches, Minako's voice.

The two Rangers push themselves off each other of a sudden, a look passing between between, they're both painted with careless brushstrokes of sweat and hurt and the fact it's never going to be enough and nothing will ever change (but maybe, it could, you can't see it on their faces but you could guess it, watching).

No words are spoken. Altin leaves. They clean up, get dressed, head upstairs. Like nothing's happened.

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 _Ahem, the all-personnel meeting has been detained several minutes due to some seal concerns down in Bay two,_ Minako's voice broadcasts over the PA.  _Please wait in the mess hall._

Plisetsky and Altin are already there with the growing crowd.

"Washroom," Plisetsky says and abandons Altin, who just gives him a cursory glance as he goes back through the crowd.

And goes first to the K. The door's locked, so he peers in, but then turns away, looking dissatisfied. He climbs upstairs and circles around the office rooms, giving them short, sharp knocks as he passes. Detaining himself by the boardroom, from which there has been some reponse, he looks at the keycard pad and tries his. The door clicks open.

"Mari, Yakov lock you up in here?" he asks, closing the door behind him, as the scientist in question stops making circles in the high-quality office chair and snaps her gaze off the ceiling, to her visitor.

"What was the last you heard from Yuuri? Did the Tango say anything to you? Do you know where they are?" she says, getting up and grabbing Plisetsky by the arm. He shakes her off.

"No, I don't," he says in a tight tone. "I would have looked for them, but the Phoenix was hurting." He motions at his wrapped knee.

"It's Yakov's fault," Mari says in a snarly way, stepping back, arms crossed. "He won't look for them! The building's stopped shaking! He's not -"

"Come on, argue with him yourself," Plisetsky says, nodding to the door. "Mila and Sara aren't happy either, with his decisions. Fucking  _Operation Pitfall_ didn't even work so I'm pretty sure there are others on your side."

"I'm not here to mutiny!" Mari exclaims. "Wait, do you have your phone?"

"Yeah, why?" Plisetsky half-takes it out of his pocket.

"Please," Mari says. "I . . . need to get out of here. I need someone who will help me find Yuuri."

"Temporarily, right? Running off?"

"Your grandma offered me a job! An in-charge position!" Mari's hands go to her hair, messing it up. "She's, like, 100% willing to work with me and Yakov's  _not!_  You might want to come too, I don't know, with what Sofya- uh, I mean, what's weird with your DNA and-"

Mari stops herself short like she hasn't meant to say this.

Plisetsky's face has already twisted into a scowl. "I fucking knew this is all because of my . . .  _institutionalized_ mother. Babushka told me, she was working on something like this. But you'd know!"

"I don't know  _for sure_ what exactly she might have done to you, probably by  _accident,_ " Mari says, shaking her head, "But I need her old research files and free reign in my own lab space to get any farther!"

Plisetsky warily holds his phone out of Mari's reach. " . . . Yeah, sure. I'm fine, though, right? For now?"

"You shouldn't collapse dead, no. Your body is just immune to radioactive poisoning, thanks to the Kaiju mechanism for absorbing radiation, which gives you a weird link to them because it's their genetic makeup Sofya cheated off, and which probably comes with other side-effects we don't yet understand."

"So I'm - what, part fucking Kaiju?"

"Noooooo, it's way more precise than that. Sort of. OK, you know what, it's as good as yes. You are, 'part-fucking-Kaiju'."

"How likely am I to end up in a mental institution in several years?" Plisetsky's eyes narrow.

Mari sighs heavily. " _That_ was a combination of everything," she says, gesturing vaguely with a hand. "Not just the experimentation she was doing. You're fine. But it'll be much better if you go somewhere out from under Yakov's 'protection'. We'll figure out what exactly's going on with you."

"The Phoenix needs me," Plisetsky says tightly, passing Mari his phone.

Mari nods and shrugs. "Well, for me, I ain't doing nothing to help save the world here." She dials and puts the phone to her ear. "Uh, hi, this is Mari Katsuki. . . . I'd like to accept Lilia's offer. Yes, she gave me a job offer . . . On one condition. It's a suggestion, actually. A really good one."


	36. Kinds of Greatness

"The dome has weathered the tsunami and quakes with little damage. However, coastal regions north of here underestimated our warnings. The PPDC is currently providing relief," Yakov details. Everyone's in the mess hall. Though the shakings have passed and all the lights are back on and the malfunction in the below-ground bay is currently taken care of, the air is sharper with increased tension. The obvious question: why another gathering, so soon?

"Are we sending out a crew to pick up the Tango?" Plisetsky says, making his way to the front of the crowd, which parts for him.

"Analysis will track their possible trajectories from the last data we have on them to narrow down a search. Until then, we're keeping an ear out on the communication lines."

"They went in there for  _you!_ They went in there for a plan that didn't work! They saved me 'n Altin's asses! The least you can do is go pick them up!" Plisetsky's yelling. The crowd murmurs behind him.

"We have no idea where they are," the Marshal reinforces through his teeth. "We're not here to discuss this. Minako, please." Yakov gives a nod to the head of predictions and analysis. She steps up to the low platform at the end of the cavernous hall laid with utilitarian benches for eating at.

"Thank you for being here. Please take what I'm about to say seriously. Predictions has gathered data which shows that the active site of the Breach has spread."

Gasps and louder talking from the crowd, questioning tones.

"Along the length of the East-West Pacific plate split, we've detected at least two additional sites. Activity levels are high among all of them. We should expect continued events."

Among the crowd, anyone with half an ear could hear that many techs, analysis and medical staff, mechanics and administrative staff alike reach the conclusion this is definitely due to the pre-emptive detonation of the payload.

"Clearly, our shatterdome has a narrow range for responding to attacks. We don't know where any new Kaiju from the other breach sites will head, but they must be stopped, and no matter the caliber of our Rangers, we are not enough to stop this potential threat. The Marshal has drafted a proposal to the UN to transfer substantial funding to the Jaeger program again, in the face of this new danger."

"They won't go for it," someone in the crowd says.

"They trust their Wall of Life," Emil mentions, somewhere near the front.

"Let some through the Wall, then they might take to it."

"I dunno, if they're scared enough they might do it."

When the Marshal holds up a hand, everyone quiets.

"In the meantime, all our available staff will be working double shifts to complete repairs on the Jaegers. Rangers, follow your short-interval recuperation and training schedules exactly," Yakov says.

"Excuse me, excuse me, pardon me," comes from somewhere at the back of the crowd in a raised voice. The gathered crowd bubbles and languidly shuffles around while someone forces a path through and comes to the front, standing at the foot of the low platform and looking up at the Marshal; it's a very vehement Mari Katsuki. "Excuse me, but you'd have one more Jaeger if you went out and picked up the damn Tango!"

"We. Don't know. Where they are," the Marshal reiterates. His brow warns of discipline if he should be crossed further. Apparently, his ( _questionably_  his) scientist is willing to cross those lines.

"Or are you just not gonna do it because what if they're  _dead_ and that would make your failed plan look bad? Which it is. Oh, it's very bad. You could've listened to me. I could've told you you need a biosignature to enter the breach in time if you'd given me a brain! You've caused this! All this extra work, panic, damage, disaster - it's  _his_ fault!" Mari whirls to those gathered and points stormily at the Marshal, yelling. The crowd shifts. Their allegiance will not be broken, but it can be questioned.

"You're fortunate I have kept you on so long as you have chosen to defy my orders and place your loyalty with  _illegal markets_ ," Yakov says in his thunderous tone. At this statement, those around Mari shuffle back from her. The Marshal turns to the PPDC soldiers at his side and gives them a nod.

The two uniformed men haul the scientist off. She's yelling all the way, fury that dissolves to angry tears and  _he's my brother!_ as the doors slide open and bang shut.

Uncertainty hangs in the air like a thick fog.

"Operation Pitfall was not successful in and of itself. However, we now understand how the Breach works. We will recover the Tango as soon as we know where to go. Make no mistake. We build our forces. We will end this, once and for all, at a point soon in time when we have the strength to mount a final strike."

The gathering is over.

There's work to do.

Plisetsky and Altin head back off to medical, next on their schedules.

"Tonight I have a video call with my father," Altin says as they walk. This is a regular, scheduled announcement. Plisetsky gives a bare nod, hands stuffed in his pockets, stalking. Altin strides, Plisetsky stalks. "Did you let Mari out?" Altin asks as Plisetsky glances over his shoulder at the Marshal, who's paused to talk further with Minako, just at the stairs up to the boardrooms and LOCCENT.

"Yeah," the taller, narrower Ranger says.

"Where does she go now?"

"I think Yakov'll toss her free. She's not a threat. Nothing bad she can do with what she knows."

"She'll go to Black Tiger?"

"Proably. Apparently babushka offered her a research position."

"That's not dangerous?"

Plisetsky shrugs. "Illegal doesn't mean dangerous."

"Are you going with her or not?"

Plisetsky shakes his head. "You need me here," he says. "We have two Jaegers and three Breach openings."

Altin just casts his gaze slightly up as the make their way around the circular dome base, to the hallway that goes to medical.

"Works for me," is all he says.

"What," Plisetsky spits.

"You don't care about closing the Breach. You care about the fame, making yourself seem great."

"I  _will be_ great," Plisetsky snarls. "I am. I'm better than you."

Altin, curiously, grows a small smile for a second. Maybe they've talked about this too much. "But why do you  _want_ to be great?"

"Find that in the fucking drift." Plisetsky smirks with the lift of the upper lip and gives Altin a hard elbow. It's some sort of challenge, maybe. From Altin's expression, not one he's conquered so far.

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Five minutes after Viktor's inside the old 'dome, he realizes he is.

His awareness lags his reality. The blue poisoning is playing with him.

_He's the Jaeger. The bare layer of snow on the ground is the deep waves, dragging at him. Pulling onwards burns, then numbs. Boot treads scrape permafrost, find purchase on the ice-slicked ground. Red lamp burns grimly, increasingly marked in the falling darkness._

_He slows as he gets closer, because he knows if he falls, he might not get up. And if he stops, he might not start again._

_Still has his keycard, kept tucked under the neural suit. Slope down to the personnel entrance. In the slot. Opens._

_Inside._

_Has to leave Yuuri, stumble downstairs, find the generator, crank it on. Keycard again._

_Lights go on and then he'll lose himself for sure._

Where is he now? How long has it been? He's sitting down. It's the ground control room for moving Jaegers around on the huge tracks, crisscoss of giant rails in a star, rectangular base area jutting out with the blunt end of an asterisk, bays.

_He leans over the control panel, which is too unfamiliar and separates itself into double vision; he finds the radio panel. It won't switch the fuck on. He spends too much time on it, just getting the panelling open. Reveals the circuits. Nothing obvious. But here he can't keep an eye on Yuuri, he's constantly looking back. The mental strain's too much. He's been in_ go  _mode for too long and he has to leave the task._

So now he's waiting for his consciousness to get rid of the lag between it and his body. Seems like maybe it has.

Yuuri's not beside him. The sled is abandoned, empty, at the door. Viktor looks down; his legs are outstretched and he's supporting Yuuri's head and neck in his lap. His copilot is still, face blotchy blue in the yellow fluorescents.

As for Viktor, blood slicks the broken abdominal fragments of his drivesuit.

His vision wafts double, focusing is really not an option; something about  _radio, try again_ but first priority to him right now is just making sure no one dies. Read, that Yuuri doesn't die.

He's taken off his helmet and Yuuri's too.

He sees his suited hands shaking as they loosely clasp Yuuri. His fingers pulse numbly, cold.

He has to get Yuuri's suit off, at least on top, to see how bad he's been hit, to see the poisoning extension.

More than anything, Viktor needs the drift right now. It's the most accurate tab he could keep on Yuuri. But, he doesn't have that.

He rolls Yuuri onto his side, struggles to get the spinal cord interface, jagged shining diamonds down the back, loose. His hands tremor just like the ground has today; Yuuri's image shifts and doubles.  _Faster!_ his mind urges him but his body won't respond.

Eventually he's unhooked the spinal interface, clicked open the bottom holds of the breastplate, pried open slitlocked pieces of armor, finds the side zip and undoes it, revealing Yuuri's skin. The zip jerks along the tiny threads nestled in the circuited, black, skintight suit, only because of Viktor's unsteady grip. (He grits his teeth as the curled-over position he's in lances a wave of sickening pain up from his stomach to his back.)

What's he looking for? Academy lessons come back to him, and too many news reports. If the blue gets serious, you start to see little black freckles, like a spray of paint or dirt on the skin.

Somehow Viktor's reverent in this moment, folding the neural suit back; every inch of Yuuri's skin is precious to him.

More blue blotching appears, gathered across the chest. Lower yet, blood, there's clotting too, which is good, and Viktor stops pulling off the suit because that will make it worse.

He curses his impaired vision and spreads a gloved hand over Yuuri's chest, bare skin, trying to see - the black spray, the warning signs.

_Imagining it?_ He thinks this is likely, he takes a harder look. He's not imagining it.

Basic conclusion that Viktor's in trouble, himself, as well.

But he can't take off his own drivesuit to fully see, needs another person for that. There is the tear, but the skin's so black-blue he can't tell. Maybe a mirror. Cheeks will reveal. And he's fairer-skinned than Yuuri, easy to see.

Drags himself up to the one-way window, General's room. Used to be you had a General for every shatterdome, so he's been told.

His own reflection scares him. His cheeks and neck spread with the splotched signs of Kaiju blue. Finer black spray casting outwards like a net.

He lets himself back down, taking the last anti-blue out of his suit. He doesn't like not having Yuuri in his field of vision. Seeing his copilot there in the flesh, it's like a tether for Viktor. He's not all gone yet. He's doing fine, all things considered, right?  _Right. We're doing fine, Yuuri . . . so fucking fine. That's you, there._ The last anti-blue sits much more heavily than it actually is in one palm, his other stroking Yuuri's dark hair, barely.  _That's you._

Today, Viktor will prove something: he's no island, he might be former-Jaeger-program-General, he might have rows of medals and the world's acknowledgement, but now he's  _nothing_  without Yuuri. (Always has been, never knew it.)

Uncaps the shot, presses the needle into Yuuri's skin, the latch pops open and it self-injects.

Done.

This breaks something in him, stamps some finality on the situation.

He knows he should go and try to broadcast something, but he's honestly losing inventory of himself and the blue poisoning relentlessly demands more and more control.

It's the last of his strength to drag himself to the control panel and, realizing in the moment that trying to repair the breadboard in his current state is about as likely as his cold, dead Jaeger getting up to dance a jaunty nighttime tango, he just flips the switch to broadcast whatever the last message was recorded and melts back down.

It probably won't work, but it's pointless to consider.

So he just holds Yuuri in his arms, pulls him up so they're together.

_Stay close to me._

And, oh so naturally, their consciousnesses bleed together, Viktor closes his eyes because he can't see clearly for shit anyway, and they're one again.

Yuuri's still there, he's still alive. And though Viktor's out of strength, he's fading, bare as his copilot (and on the downswing a  _fuck of a lot_ faster), he's done what he can.

Now they're just twin ghosts, waiting in this huge, heartless place, waiting for a real light.

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_They threw me out, I grabbed some stuff and didn't look back, the Black Tiger's jet came to pick me up. The PPDC tossed me outside like a bag of trash and I don't regret leaving. Cause I've got work to do._

_I didn't talk directly to Lilia over the phone, so I gotta land and persuade her._

_Reason one, we pick up the Tango, we take the Tango. Ain't giving it back to Yakov. He clearly doesn't deserve it. So there we go, I mean, there's no way I know how to build a Jaeger from scratch and even if I have the plans for one (which I do), I gotta get hands-on with it if Lilia wants anything from me there._

_Two, we pick up Yuuri and Viktor, we take Yuuri and Viktor. I think. I mean, I really don't know what they'll want to do, they might go back, but I mean . . . if Black Tiger has the Tango, they can't do much, can they? I just want Yuuri safe. And I could say I don't really care where he goes after, but I do. I think he's treated fine in the Jaeger program but it's his copilot and what the Marshal thinks of his copilot that's the issue._

_But would Viktor - nah, that's a stretch, I can't see him just up and leaving the PPDC who's practically parented him. But it COULD happen. Especially if he goes back and Yakov blows him off. Just I don't feel it's likely. Not that I know much about Black Tiger, maybe they're a lot better than the PPDC thinks of them._

_Lilia might not want to cross the PPDC because of all their Kaiju carcass rights agreements. But if we're just rescuing a couple of stranded Rangers and their Jaeger, that's a good cause, and then - well I guess I should just focus on getting that part accomplished._

_Let's hope Lilia agrees with me._

_. . ._

_. . . When I was leaving there were already news agencies flooding the shatterdome, trying to get in. Man. Soon the world's gonna know, one way or another, that the threat's at least tripled._

_Mari out._

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	37. Something's Not Right Here

"Why didn't you tell me you've been dealing with babushka all these years?" Plisetsky demands of the Marshal, but it's clear the tone of voice means he's not addressing him as such.

"Go back to your schedule," the Marshal says. He wears a grey coat today; he's standing at the head of the table in the boardroom, emptying from a news conference. PPDC staff are escorting the media out and away and Plisetsky has shouldered through the crowd to get to the Marshal.

"Babushka says you haven't spoke a word to her since mom got put away," Plisetsky continues.

"When did you, and why did you, go talk with . . . Lilia?" The Marshal puts on his hat. "If we weren't short on Rangers . . . associating with the black market outside of official orders is an unpardonable offence."

Plisetsky crosses his arms, legs in a spread stance, blocking the entrance.

"What black market? She's my grandmother."

The Marshal stops just shy of bowling Plisetsky out of the way. "Now is not the time for increased insubordination, Ranger."

"Did you really  _fucking_ do it? Are you why she left dedushka?" Plisetsky just continues.

The Marshal's upper lip moves impatiently.

"Did you ever fucking  _tell him?_ Before he died?" Plisetsky's tone has grown into an angry snarl that makes it seem like these are all rhetorical questions. "She was the only thing keeping him alive! She split and he just fucking gave up on life! Did you ever think of what that would do it him, huh? To my mom? To  _me_?!"

All too quickly, one fist has rapped its knuckles up against Yakov's chest, like Academy cadets, challenging each other to pre-testing fights in the thrown-together basement arena.

In response, the Marshal, fast as lightning, whaps Plisetsky's arm to the side with his own, stops short of completely throwing the boy to the ground. In that brief moment Plisetsky jumps; his eyes display something like fear; he goes backwards a few paces with the sheer force of the Marshal's response.

Plisetsky quickly moves his arm back to his side.

"Don't talk to me about choices and don't you ever touch me again." The Marshal's angry, and you wouldn't often see him like this.

Plisetsky glowers but his gaze is down, his hair falls in front of his face, so only the floor can see.

The Marshal touches his fingers to his nose. They come away topped with a few fresh drops of blood. Silently, the air heavy with a dare for anyone to speak, he withdraws a handkerchief from a coat pocket and dabs it at his nose.

During this, Plisetsky looks up, but not very far, and back down.

"What are you never going to do again?" the Marshal prompts.

"Touch you." Barely-there tone.

The Marshal leans in sideways, pressing a finger to his ear.

"Sir." The recitation is a grudge trying to be hidden.

Plisetsky steps smartly aside for the Marshal, who's tucking the handkerchief back in his pocket and pulling a small metal pillbox out from inside his suit, to leave.

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Plisetsky and Altin clean up after a run in the sim room (current trial's being increased in difficulty to mimic possible situations with this new triple Breach, and as a result, their fault count is up and both appear frustrated).

And today,  _clean up_ means Plisetsky's laid out on one of the benches long between the weapons and suit shelves with Altin cock-deep in him.

Long red nail-marks remain crisscrossing Altin's back and he reaches to leave the same on his copilot, keep his purchase in flesh, sweat re-beading on his forehead.

Plisetsky  _screeches_ at the moment Altin's fingertips dig into his fair skin and separates them in a blink of an eye, scrambling away, somehow managing not to trip on his skinsuit which is still wrapped around his ankles. He goes skidding back against the clear door of the skinsuit closet, one hand curled tight into a fist, the other arm crossed protectively against his chest, eyes huge as he's shaking like some kind of wild animal.

Altin stands up fully, his eyes flicking for a second as he looks at his copilot as if taking inventory, who's looking up at him through messed blonde hair from his seated position, appearing like he might go berserk at any moment. Then Altin's head tilts and his lip curls in a snarl:

"This is about what you're keeping me out of in the drift!" - his tone rises and a finger goes accusingly in Plisetsky's direction. Plisetsky's breathing hard, no words to say, apparently.

Altin shifts his weight back, shakes his head, turns to grab his change of clothes from the bench. "Can't trust my copilot," he says, like it's an old saying, an adage you hear from your mother and don't believe until you're old enough to realize it's true.

He leaves for the showers and if anyone had been watching, Plisetsky would sit there the whole time, wiping his hair away from his face with the back of an arm, and finally gone to shower after Altin's clothed figure left the changeroom with no regard to his copilot.

Plisetsky spends too much time in the shower, and on his phone when he's finally finished, Predictions has an alert: Breach opening to come in thirteen hours.

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{She's at the windows latticed along the one side of her room. She's longing for another sight of dear Yura, fervently she believes the next time he comes surely мама will invite him to visit with her. She could go out into the gallery. But, no she doesn't want to do; she's been feeling weak and tired. The inked papers holding different sketches of Yura's face are stale whenever she casts a glance at them, and although she wishes to stack them up and put them precisely in a corner, all she has done is lie down and rest, without feeling rested.

The pills never come, and she hasn't seen мама in a while either. Foggily she is sure that мама must be busy with accomodating Yura. Perhaps they are going to her favorite cafe . . . perhaps they will take her there . . .

But she's managed to rise and go to the window because there are voices again.

Her expression immediately changes from dull hope to dull anger. It's the girl again, the one who stopped her before, who ruined her -  _don't think about it! Can't think about it! -_ and she sees her talking emphatically to мама while мама's workers stand at attention and it looks like, it  _looks like_ мама is agreeing with her!

She cannot watch. It pains her head. Why does мама do this? Why does she entertain her?

She goes back to her couch and lies down, not meaning to close her eyes, but she does anyways.}

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_I got Lilia to agree. I started going off on my planned spiel, of course after I told her I accepted her job offer, and I basically didn't have to say anything past "we get a Jaeger"; she was in!_

_Now my plan was just going to be fly around until we see the damn thing (not great, I know, I'm not some geomatics engineer) BUT Lilia said she had data on the explosion. The Black Tiger sold the payload to the PPDC, and apparently they were tracking it too._

_I still dunno how I feel about that, but I don't have any time to figure out anything except_ where the hell is my brother.  _So she called up some of the people and sent me with them upstairs to another level in this like, really packed but super cool admin wing - really our shatterdome's office vibe is_ so  _boring compared to the Black Tiger's. They've got sweet Kaiju-inspired art all over the place, and it's all mahogany and jade but like, with modern metal sort of furniture too? I commented on it to my guide who said this was nice but they have better equipped facilities somewhere else. Sheesh._

_Anyways, I basically stood around and pointed at the screen and gave them coordinates and times I loaded onto my phone and then apparently_ they  _have a couple smart people who knew where to start looking. North, they said. I mean, they don't look smart. They look dangerous and rich. Huh, maybe some brains gets you there, though._

_So, chop chop, we're off in a jet with a scrambled crew. It's so weird, no uniforms, no badges, assorted weapons and tattoos, gee. (My kind of style, though, but I'm harmless, I'm just a cute, fluffy kitten compared to these guys. A cute, incredibly intelligent, fluffy kitten.)_

_I told Lilia she'd need some decent air power to pick up the Jaeger, but she vetoed that. Apparently she's got other ways. Sure. Not like I need to know. Guess I need employee training first._

_And . . . I mean, I had to ask about a safe hospital facility for the pilots. In case. Just in case. I'm sure that won't be necessary. I was sort of like, sooooo we_ could  _put them in a hospital and uh, but, if you sort of want to keep them . . . but apparently there's a private facility with medical operations the Black Tiger has, 'better-equipped' place that was mentioned._

_Holy shit, what_ is  _Black Tiger, even? Guess they gotta do something with all the money._

_I'm flying blind. Lilia could be lying to me. The Tango could be waterlogged and lying dead at the bottom of the ocean with Viktor and Yuuri . . ._

_. . . I don't believe it. I can't. That's not what happened. They're probably just stranded._

_I'm just watching the surveillance screen for heat signatures. Nothing yet. Looks like we're approaching the Russian peninsula to the north. . . . wait! If the Tango had enough power, and if they did jet far enough north from the explosion - in this green square here, yeah it's possible! - Viktor of course, he knows about the old shatterdome up there! They'd try and make it there, without any word from LOCCENT, can't just wait to be picked up!_

_Mari out, gotta tell the rich punks flying this thing._

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Victor will remember later, and not all of it.

Far-away bursts of activity, banging like people breaking down doors. Rushed footsteps.  _The light's on!, over here!:_ shouts.

At the moment his mind is so far away, he's so out of it, that he doesn't realize who it is who enters the control room, holding a lowered flashlight, hair a mess and looking urgent. He can't respond, the blue in his system pins his neurons down, slowly choking them out; the front of his drivesuit is streaked with fresh blood and Yuuri's as still as he is, in his lap.

He can see his gloved, suited fingers lying around the curve of Yuuri's temple and cheek, mimicking the outline. For the time being he has to imagine stroking Yuuri's smooth skin, blue-stained cheeks, the spread of black specks held at bay by the anti-blue, because his fingers will only respond with a twitch to his desire.

He's been trying to hold on, trying to stay in drift,  _in ghost_ , and really that's the only thing keeping him awake: the vague but solid impression they're together, they can still remain that way. But he's almost gone, and as others enter and lift the weight of Yuuri from his hold and twist their ghosting thin by increased distance, it's safe to say he can let go at last.

Now it's up to them, whoever  _they_  are; Viktor closes his eyes. He releases the last moment, stamped and sealed not with his dreams or the history of his life thus far or pain even, though it's there; no, it ends with  _Yuuri._

Viktor gives himself to a dark sort of rest, masquerading as sleep, inviting in the moment.

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The screens in the lounge are tuned to news channels. The overall death toll for the recent quaking is 2,344 and rising. Shots of destroyed homes and streets, wreckage, PPDC soldiers working to try and rescue what they can.

Mila and Sara stand there, Makkachin beside them. The dog is a reminder of who's missing.

The Cherno Alpha's pilots talk with Otabek Altin, whose own copilot is nowhere to be seen.

"Well, I went to talk to Yakov, and he says they'll send out a search party after the next Breach opening," Mila details.

Altin nods, leaning a hand on the railing. The shatterdome is alive and busy but the pilots really have nothing to do; it's their Jaegers which get all the attention right now.

"Will the Phoenix be repaired enough? I don't know how they're going to get her fixed up in time."

Altin shrugs.

"Where's Yurio?" Sara asks.

Altin shrugs again.

On the TV, the news anchor announces yet again the emergency procedures which are part of the UN mandate to get behind the Wall before the next wave hits. According to Predictions, the next breach openings will cause another round of quakes and tsunamis.

Mila's on her phone. "Still no exact number of how many Kaiju are coming for us. I'm not panicking or anything, but," she tosses her hair, "if we got seven Kaiju out of one Breach opening and now we have three enter points to deal with, simple math says we're doomed."

"I saw some PPDC units touch down here. I think we're getting extra support from the air," Sara says.

Mila snorts. "That's always extremely helpful," she says, her tone sarcastic.

"Maybe Kaiju can only enter through the old Breach, still," Sara says. "Maybe only so many can come through at a time."

Giving a frustrated motion of the head, Mila asks Altin, "Does Yurio know . . . ?", to which Altin shakes his head.

"He doesn't know in advance."

"That's useful." Mila draws her lips tight and pets Makkachin's fluffy brown head. "Gosh. Do you feel like the Jaeger program's a sinking ship? I don't know. With Mari getting thrown out and the Tango missing and us not doing  _anything_ and Pitfall failing - like," Mila runs a hand through her hair.

Sara puts an arm around her copilot's waist, scooching Makkachin out of the space between them. The dog goes over to Altin and absentmindedly sniffs a proffered hand.

"Would you rather take a vacation, then?" Sara says.

"Of course not. It just seems like things are bad. From inside. Like we're not ready."

"The UN won't give the PPDC more funding unless things get a lot worse," Altin says.

"So we just have to let them get worse?" Mila shakes her head again. "We're here to  _prevent_ deaths, not let them happen just so people will believe there's actually a threat out there! Augh!" She throws up her hands and walks in a small slow circle.

"We'll make it," Sara says.

Altin nods along.

Whether anyone truly believes that statement is questionable.

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The Phoenix and the Cherno suit-up pre-emptively.

The Phoenix isn't pretty. Most of the damage was surface, so it can weather a few more punches, but by no means is it shining and black-and-white, it's now an evident reminder of the times. And tough as they are, too, hopefully.

LOCCENT gives the go-ahead for neural handshakes, and Guang-Hong pinches his lips together as he looks at the Phoenix pilots' waveforms.

The Marshal is here early and so are Predictions staff, working away at the projection screen that models the breach. Or, now, breaches. There's a new site north of the old one, and also further south, all along the east-west Pacific plate split. But with no time to place analysis devices down at the new sites, the mathematicians and statisticians and techs with them have the task of sorting out readings from the measurement devices in place at the old, singular active spot, filtering what's coming from which Breach opening.

"I saw from your files you're technically able to pilot," Leo de la Iglesia says at Guang-Hong's back as the LOCCENT head is doing the routine checks on drift parameters for both Jaegers.

"Yes, but I never took the final test because I didn't want to be a Ranger," Guang-Hong says.

"Interesting," Leo says. "I did a year in the Academy before you were accepted. I didn't want to be a Ranger, either, I didn't think. The whole Academy environment was just too much."

There's a lull in conversation. The hub is tense with low mumurs, clicking, chair wheels on the floor, beeps from computers.

"Picking up breach dilation," an analysis staff member says all of a sudden, urgent.

Everyone turns to where that group's huddled and waits to hear more news.

"Looks to be B2," comes the next report. The three sites are numbered B1, B2, B3; confusingly enough, B2 is the old breach, being in the geographic middle of the other two.

"How many Kaiju?" the Marshal says.

"Can't see yet."

Minako holds a tablet which is connected to the main instrument bank. "Seismic activity on the rise. It's possible we could see worse yet than Pitfall. The length of the breach is still incredibly unstable," she reports.

"At least two signatures," another tech reports.

" _Do we head out yet?_ " patches in over the speakers from Mila in the Cherno.

Guang-Hong, Minako, pretty much everyone looks to Yakov. The earlier he sends out the Jaegers, the larger the perceived threat.

"Open bay one for the Phoenix and Cherno," the Marshal orders into the mic. "Air squad, standby for takeoff."

The ground floor of the shatterdome comes alive. The Jaegers prepare to move out.

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[art (happy belated birthday to JJ I'm sorry I killed u off)](https://sciencemakedrugtho.tumblr.com/post/162939397481/im-a-couple-days-late-but-i-did-it-pacific-rim)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for your comments and kudos! hit 100, wow!


	38. New Orders

_I've got news: Yuuri will be fine. He'll be fine. I'm sitting here at his side. He's breathing. They gave him a transfusion. He'll be fine. Already I think I can tell the blue's fading from his cheeks. His stomach wounds are bandaged and sealing up. It's been 6 and a half hours since I got him here (which is Black Tiger's medical/research facility some miles out from Yakutsk, city I've never been) and I've finished administering the cycles of anti-blue. There_ is  _such a thing as too much anti-blue._

_Checked and double-checked the concentration on these after taking samples from Yuuri, everything looks good._

_Yuuri will be fine._

_Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah._

_Viktor . . . won't be. I mean, I'm not saying there's no hope. When they picked him up and rolled him in, starting to strip all his messed up armor off, his whole chest and neck and cheeks were just blue and black and red. Blue and black, from the Kaiju poisoning, red, from blood. I couldn't look at him. Into this strange building with strange staff and strange guards at the doors and strange doctors - and I just had to let Viktor into their hands and operating room._

_Yeah, and so I was busy with Yuuri but at the same time waiting for news about Viktor. Just as I'm done giving Yuuri the last dose of anti-blue one of the surgeons (I'm guessing he's a surgeon, he looks too young? - but then again, I'm too young for my doctorates too) comes in, telling me Viktor's been moved to another room. They have a ICU-type room. Why, I ask. The blue damage's gone too far. Of course I know what that means._

_When you get blue, it affects your nervous system pretty broadly. Left unchecked, the blue seems to concentrate in the occipital and frontal lobe from what research shows, causing lapses in awareness, vision problems, and physically - swelling of the brain._

_. . . Turns out they put him in an induced coma._

_I left Yuuri for a moment, knowing he was OK, just to see if the room was up to standards; oh, yeah, everything in this place is outfitted to the best you've seen. It's a small room where they've got Viktor, but everything's white and the sheer spotlessness would make the smallest bacteria have second-thoughts. So, I mean, infection should be a minimal risk._

_He's hooked up to everything proper. I can't tell if proper-_ ly,  _but his heart, his breathing, it's all set up. I could see his shoulder was bandaged heavily. I didn't want to look at him too long. His face was still all stained blue and black, so black, too damn black._

_With blue, though, because inducing a coma for those suffering from extensive poisoning has become pretty widespread as a last resort (and you need a lot of last resorts, these days), we know that infection is the least of worries. Reducing brain activity will reduce the threat of swelling from the blue, but you have to kill the poison, or else it'll go on happily ingraining its way into your brain._

_Blue's kind of between a bacteria and a virus. It's both. It's terrible and we don't really fully understand it. It's alien, what can I say? Anyways, there are several treatments for advanced blue, available as I know, all of them comparatively viable, but not very viable, overall. They're all throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater sort of things._

_Sparing you the details, it's use one of these things, or fight the next-to-none odds of the other option: dig up my theoretical thesis project for my first doctorate and try implementing it, for real._

_That crap will be with all of Sofya's stuff too, bonus if it happens._

_Oh yeah, and that thesis project was based on binding behaviours I witnessed between different lifetime samples of Kaiju blue: read, I need some fresh alien poison to try to make this work._

_Hah._

_I have to decide soon. Ten minutes would be great._

_. . ._

_I'm just sitting with Yuuri. It's not exactly a hospital room. It's clear with a bed, monitors, IV hookups, a counter and storage for other procedures. More like an examination room. Larger than a hospital room. We're on the second floor._

_It's about midnight. Damn. I've just got these two lamps on. They're too bright, but it's just . . . I just . . . it's reassuring seeing Yuuri's chest go up and down, up and down._

_What would Yuuri do about Viktor? I don't know._

_Of course, the difference in their condition begs the question_ what happened?  _And, I mean, I won't know until Yuuri wakes up and tells me, for sure, but it's plain as day Yuuri got an anti-blue injection and Viktor didn't, at some point. In fact, judging by elapsed exposure time, Yuuri probably got n injections, and Viktor n minus at least one._

_Begs the question_ what happened  _indeed._

_My backpack's just slung in the corner. I cleaned Yuuri's glasses, put them on the cart I pulled up here for a makeshift bedside table. I made sure the docs knew to take his contacts out. I grabbed Yuuri's glasses before leaving Hong Kong, I knew he'd need them._

_They're ready for when he wakes up._

_. . . Viktor won't be._

_But it's up to me to make sure he will be, eventually. Viktor stays alive. No brain damage allowed._

_I think I know what I'll do. Damned if it's the right thing, but I just dream of being a rockstar, you know? And I'm usually right. I'm usually damn right._

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B2 ruptures at the planned time. The length of the breach shudders and spits up waves of orange-to-blue waterflames, heralding the arrival of two Kaiju: Scunner and Leatherback. Though they enter through the same throat as ever before, the otherworldly impact of their arrival spreads up and down the chasm between the plates, shaking deep layers of the earth.

For a few minutes, the pull of two distanced targets confuses the beasts. But they are pulled to the stronger call, not the sharpest tools in the shed, no strategizing skills.

Soon, as they swim together westward through the waves, the ocean begins to pulse along with the quakes.

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Plisetsky and Altin, Mila and Sara have just gotten cabled up and cleared for aerial transport to the intercept point when orders come through the comms to hold position.

The red signatures of the two threatening Kaiju are still out at sea, but steadily beeping nearer, on both Jaegers' displays.

"What's going on?" Altin says to LOCCENT.

There's a tight silence, filled only by the deep  _bbbbbbbbb_  and mid-range toned hum of the Phoenix's core.

" _Orders from PPDC, straight from the UN,"_ comes Yakov's voice, and it sounds tight, angry. " _All Jaegers are to disengage and shatterdome staff report to the PPDC shelter on the mainland. Behind the wall."_

Plisetsky punches his comm line button with an index finger. "What? That's stupid. We can go anyway. They  _know_ Kaiju can break through their-"

" _Begin cable letdown on both Jaegers,"_ Yakov continues. " _Orders are orders."_

The air boils with frustration and adrenaline that now has nowhere to go as the first steps taken reverse all of a sudden.

From Mila: "They think the Wall will hold up better than us, I guess. No offense, but the Phoenix looks pretty rough."

"Like we were pulled from the wrecker's pile," Altin contributes in agreement.

"We can still throw a better punch than the fucking Wall can!" Plisetsky tirades.

"Orders," Altin says.

"The Sydney wall broke, what makes them think this one won't," sighs Mila as cables drop from their tethers around the two metal beasts. "A few more feet, a couple million more dollars' worth of steel?"

"What if there's another Otachi?" Sara says, rhetorically.

"You know what, I say we just fucking run for it and hide behind the wall. In the Jaegers. Come on, after the last cable drops. Technically we're obeying the thing. Going to the PPDC shelter," Plisetsky says.

" _Orders,_ " Altin says sharply.

"Come on," Plisetsky argues.

"LOCCENT, what do you think of us walking the Jaegers in behind the wall? If they clear several of the landing pads at the local HQ, we can stand guard there," Mila's already suggesting to LOCCENT.

" _Approved,_ " Yakov says. " _I'll have Good Fortune Port opened. Head over as soon as you're uncabled_."

Only a snort from Yurio over the comms as the Jaegers strike off at a tangent, crossing the straight between Hong Kong and the mainland, making for the Good Fortune Port on the southeast side of the wall, a barren grey expanse of no-nonsense construction, taller than the tallest Kaiju on record, 380 meters tall. Soon, helicopters carrying shatterdome staff swarm and buzz past them in little flocks as the Jaegers churn the waters in their haste to bed down, await their enemies inside the world's best defenses.

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Quakes or the Leatherback and Scunner pounding at the Wall?

That's the question of the hour.

Each impact is earth-shaking; the PPDC shelter stands fairly close to the bays and the Phoenix takes a knee in the patchwork of cleared landing pads, the Cherno with a wide, stable stance on the landing strip and airfield beside. They could easily rest their elbows on the 20-floor PPDC admin building, sleek construction of steel and glass, if they were standing, but the earth shakes and they need stability.

Screeching and banging; the PPDC airforce flies and shoots projectiles at all sides of the two Kaiju, who pound and headbutt the structure mercilessly from the ocean side, bellowing and shrieking.

"Look, puffs of dust, it's cracking," Plisetsky says, bracing along with his copilot in the Phoenix, his tone snarky, triumphant.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure the planes and their oh-so-powerful missiles will take the Kaiju down before -" Mila starts, and then the infrastructure explodes/cracks/crumbles inwards and the two ugly, gnarled beasts with bright veins and patterns set in skin push in, gigalithic threats.

The way in which the Wall crumbles under the force of the accumulated blows tells you how much concrete and steel the Kaiju had to break through, and did. So many layers break down that some car-sized or shed-sized or even house-sized chunks of debris fall soft, some puff out, some fly and hurtle, in an instantaneous pulse of failure.

Conveniently, at the same time, Guang-Hong says in the pilots' ears: " _We've got two more signatures coming through Breach-two."_

_\- You didn't know?_ Altin says to Plisetsky as the Phoenix stands and ejects its Sting blades, only a kilometer or two for the new threats to cover.

-  _Not the best time to fucking mention it._

_\- Could have put it in the drift._

" _Phoenix, your drift is phasing out. Please keep in sync,"_ Guang-Hong warns.

Apparently this admonishment does its job. The two Kaiju crash further inland, not caring about the rows of ship cargo and trees and dock buildings they trample; to close the last few hundred meters, the Phoenix launches itself forward,  _THUMP-THUMP-THUMP,_ creating small quakes of its into the Leatherback, Sting blades out.

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After the Phoenix has ripped open Leatherback so its hide gushes blue Kaiju blood - luckily before it can release the electric blast it is able to - and the beast topples to the ground, the Jaeger turns to assist the Cherno. The sturdy upgraded Mark-1 Jaeger's been plowed several intersections one way, struggling to pin the Scunner down on land. Phoenix turns and heads that way, grabbing a fistful of knocked-over intermodal freight containers, crumping the midsection of the metal in its hand. It raises the baton like a weapon and runs to close in on the Kaiju, as the Cherno's holding the monster at bay by its hammerhead-like horns - but a full-on shaking of the ground trips the Phoenix and it has to take a knee in the middle of industrial shipping offices.

Turning to the Wall, a huge wave  _roars_ up and there's a smack and heavy shudder which quickly grow cracks spiderwebbing out from the Kaiju entry point - and through that spot, water crashes in, lakes' worth, seas' worth.

The tide spreads so that by the time it reaches the Tango's shins the force isn't enough to topple them further. On the other hand, the Scunner and Cherno slip and slide closer back down to the wall. The Russian Jaeger boots off a nickel-roll punch straight in the Kaiju's face; the physical wave of pain ripples through its skin as it recoils with a bellow and a sharp  _crack!_ sounds in the air as one of its horns shatters bonily off.

Phoenix lunges up, bounding heavily to the Scunner and swinging the freight-container bat into the beast's side.

Together, the two Jaegers pummel the Scunner down and the Cherno shorts its Tesla fists into the Kaiju, stunning it; the Phoenix finishes up with a Sting-blade stab to the throat. No time to order the high-quality nanotube-threaded blades fabricated and installed, so the Phoenix is running on one good fist, but just as well, it seems to have worked.

As they rise from the completed task word comes from LOCCENT (or whatever communications hub has been rigged up inside the PPDC headquarters):

" _Two new Kaiju signatures, category fours, splitting up; one's heading here, again, the other's going northwest._ "

"Yurio?" Mila says.

"Hell if I know," comes the acerbic reply.

"What do we do?" Altin asks LOCCENT.

" _The Marshal's speaking with PPDC officers and trying to get a plan worked out with the coastal region targeted . . . "_

"It will be too late by the time all the papers get signed," Sara says tersely. "Phoenix, you're faster."

"We can't get there in time unless we're cabled up," Altin reports. "LOCCENT, are we clear for transport?"

" _Not yet,"_ comes the answer from Guang-Hong, sounding as if he's as impatient as they are.

The two Kaiju signatures diverge, beeping red spots on both Jaegers' tracking screens. Not moving to intercept the one going north is like an itch you can't scratch. The Phoenix shifts its weight.

Of a sudden there's a portending  _rush_ far-off, it's building -

" _Here comes the wave, hold on!_ " from Guang-Hong, and both Jaegers knuckle down where they are as a 720-foot wave that pretty much doubles the height of the Wall comes on, casting shadow, a watery dictator, and the Jaegers are small and humans are specks under its stare.

"Get your diveseals on!" Mila yells through the comms -

Wind rushes forward and then the almighty breaking of the wave over the Wall -

Deluge -

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_We're pretty far inland behind the Wall, but there's a tsunami warning. Sucks not knowing exactly when the Breach is gonna open and how many Kaiju coming through it._

_I slept a little. I mostly explored and introduced myself to people. And you know, pretty much didn't stop worrying about Yuuri and Viktor. And asked when was Lilia going to show up to tell me what I'm doing? After the storm hits I guess. But then apparently someone else from Black Tiger is coming to debrief me or something soon._

_I'll give you a rundown of this facility. It's definitely research-based. They've got a good number of staff working here. From what I can tell, there's a division that takes care of storing Kaiju parts, and that's downstairs, somewhere I can't go yet. This small hospital-type wing has a few other patients in it too, though I can't tell what for. Maybe Black Tiger affiliates that got hurt doing their dirty work. Then there are really vague 'Division A' and 'Division B' labels on the little signs that hang from the ceiling to show you where to go._

_I eventually wandered to this CAUTION striped set of large doors that I think leads into a large bay or something. I asked a couple mechanic-looking types and they said they usually work on jets and vehicles in there._

_Everyone kinda stares at me so I have to go talk to them. It's incredibly nerve-wracking. Apparently no one really knew I was the new staff so I'm some kind of curiosity wandering around - I hope no one decides off with my head or something. A lot of them recognize me, I can feel. I decided to break the awkwardness by going to shake their hands and introducing myself officially._ Mari Katsuki, Kaiju biologist, used to work for the PPDC, now I'm here, nice to meet you!  _\- sounds smoother in my head, sounds more frantic and high-pitched once I say it._

_This one girl who had an AWESOME hijab with some stylized Onibaba printed on it, red and blue, I couldn't help myself I went up and started yelling about how cool it was, showed me to their cafeteria._

_Looking out the window, I could see, yes, there is a large bay attached to the main building. Now I wanna see the jets in it._

_Everything's a lot slicker than the old beat-up shatterdome. Clearly, there's money feeding this operation. Everything's white, green accented. Really quite eye-catching._

_Also, the Hong Kong shatterdome staff is made of mostly east Asians, majority Chinese or from Hong Kong, with Americans and some British in administration. The most diversity you get is in the Ranger pairs. But here, seems like everyone's skin is a different color. And I mean, a lot of staff are in scrubs or wearing coats, but it seems it's only as necessary. Lots of people walking through in suits or skintight leather kind of ensembles._

_I also was wondering about keycards for a while, but then I saw some woman put her wrist up to a door to open it. Aha. Not something I can easily steal. Hopefully I'll get access soon enough._

_For all the amenities, there's no free wi-fi. I could see a group of people smoking outside from the window in Yuuri's room, and a parking lot strip, the rather barren tundra stuck with trees here and there, mountains in the far distance. Funny, I haven't smoked in a few months. I mean, just the occasional. Don't have time to smoke, world's going up in flames._

_Oh, yeah, but I eventually found my way back the intensive care unit where Viktor is and there were several people standing around gawking, even as some announcement went over the PA for protective lockdown. Apparently no one really cares. I eavesdropped for a bit - everyone was like,_ that's the General of the Jaeger program?  _and stuff like_ how is he here?  _and_ he doesn't look good.  _I could only suffer listening to such uninformed conjecture before I kicked a stool over beside the door to face everyone, did my little introductory spiel_ (hi, I'm your new coworker!),  _and explained that yes, it WAS Viktor Nikiforov and in order to cure the blue poisoning I needed to get my hands on some live Kaiju blue._

_Well, this immediately got me into a heated debate with some people there who, judging from the quality of our conversation, are definitely trained specialists. I got nostalgic defending my first PhD again. One of them even opened the diagnostics on Viktor's condition and we argued over that evidence as well. Eventually they accepted me enough to say they had a research project of their own dealing with engineering a new anti-blue drug and went to some other analysis wing they wrist-beeped us into to show me the project; it was super cool and I asked a crap ton of questions, started working through how it was supposed to combat the blue with them. Somehow at the end of it all we were working together instead of arguing._

_And most of them agreed that their project was still in testing stages; it wouldn't be readily viable to try on Viktor._

_"You'll talk to upper circle about getting fresh blue," one of the scientists told me, and just then, the door beeped and swung open into the lab. "Oh, here he is."_

_Everyone who's worked here longer than a few hours greeted the newcomer with seemingly customary deference._

_I just gaped like a fish._

_'Cause in had walked Christophe Giacometti._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: *writes stuff*  
> me: better check draft word count, mebbe I can post a couple chapters  
> wordcount: "22,400"  
> me: HOOOO BOY time to post a chapter


	39. Roses and Thorns

"LOCCENT? LOCCENT, come in?"

The wave has crashed and surged forward, then just as vengefully sucks back, dragging debris down to a watery grave; buildings cave, cars tumble like leaves in rapids, leaving a metropolitan and industrial heap of debris piled up the wall.

The Phoenix is half-buried by all this and manages to break its way out, elbowing steel and concrete and wood, panels and glass and vehicles and parts of cargo ships aside, sloshing through residual water that's still pouring back out through the hole in the Wall.

LOCCENT doesn't come in. The PPDC headquarters has been flayed by the tsunami and likely power's gone out.

Luckily, the Cherno's stomping up from a wreckage of freight containers. The slope-headed Jaeger slowly gives a thumbs-up.

"Still alive," Mila says through the comms.

There are people, of course, in the wreckage and mayhem, the ground and streets upset by the waves. To the Jaeger pilots, they must look as small as ants.

Onscreen in the Connpods, the two Kaiju signatures continue in their paths; the Phoenix surveys the scene; a building folds on itself belatedly, foundations giving up.

"Do you guys have LOCCENT at all?" Mila's asking.

"No," Altin replies.

"You can take the Kaiju heading here, right? We're gonna take the one heading north." This from Plisetsky.

"We are?" Altin says tersely.

"Fuck yeah. There's no Jaegers up there, just more of this retarded wall. The Kaiju can do whatever it wants with nothing to stop it."

"We couldn't catch it if we ran."

"I guarantee if we get closer it'll come to us."

"To you."

"Yeah, me."

"You know what happens if you do this? Yakov doesn't let you pilot until you're thirty," Altin warns.

"I don't give a fuck!" Plisetsky yells into the comms.

"Yuri, I'm not LOCCENT but I know our drift is  _very thin right now_ -"

"-then agree with me! We're going. Come on."

"... Guys? You sure?" from Mila.

"Don't break the drift now," Sara warns.

All there is is a huff deep enough that it's probably Altin's. And the Phoenix strides out through the break in the Wall, turning to make its way along the coast as quickly as it can.

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The drift burns dry and silent as the Phoenix runs along the coastline, along the Wall, like a runner going for a morning jog.

The structure hasn't held up well; even just the force of the tsunami has caused it to buckle in some places and written cracks haphazardly up from the base.

You could be sure that the drift's as fragile as a fraying string and the only thing keeping the Phoenix's strides in sync is the Academy training: ingraining into future Rangers the discipline and ability to turn whatever emotions they encounter in the drift into perseverance, into the will to keep moving forward.

-  _See. It's slowing._

Indeed, the red dot nows looks less sure in its northwest progression.

Altin makes no reply.

They run onwards, each step a hard impact into the earth. At times, they splash through the shallows.

The little red indicator on the instrument panel screen changes trajectories.

_\- It's coming for us now._

Still Altin's silent.

-  _We'll swim out,_ Plisetsky continues.

The one-sided conversation culminates in the Phoenix activating its diveseal and wading into the depths, a head-on course for the Kaiju making its way toward the pilots in their metal shell.

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_Let me backup and explain a little about Chris. First of all, he used to be Viktor's BFF, I hear. I agree, they spent a lot of time together, while Chris was with the Jaeger program. I just started when he was jockeying, with Mathieu Suire in the Phoenix. I had been working about 10 months when IT happened. Basically, they were off on a pretty routine mission, pretty confident, one-on-one, and the drift snapped. Chris lost something in there. Had to call Sara and Michele - Michele was still her copilot back then - for backup. Anyways, we never got any hard evidence as to why Chris had gone haywire in there. But it was a costly mistake, the Phoenix's integral parts were damaged._

_So Chris was fired, of course, and then Suire resigned._

_To me it's always been a little weird. I mean, Chris didn't seem like the type. Sure, he's brash and too playful for his own good, but nothing in analysis I could see foreshadowed the breakup, at least not before that final drift._

_Anyways, that's what I know about Chris._

_In the lab room, walking in all of sudden, well of course I recognized him. His bleach-blond scruff on top is longer now, but not so long you can't see the brown close shave underneath. He was wearing glasses, gold-rimmed and round with details at the sides. A black suit, perfectly tailored, a loose ribbon-type tie, and his white shirt underneath gradient with roses towards the bottom. Chris was always obsessed with roses and stuff; little gold cufflinks, I could have sworn those were roses too. Shiny brown derby shoes._

_He's got hazel eyes and really, really dark girly lashes. So he keeps this stubble going to balance the whole thing, I think. Objectively, I can sure say he oozes sex appeal, and knows it too, especially in that getup. Not my thing. At all. But, damn, you just can't help but like him. It's kind of unfair._

_"Long time, no see," purred the signature voice._

_I was like . . . Chris! . . . I think I blubbered a whole lot of stuff and finished with something like, I need fresh Kaiju blue!_

_He just sauntered over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He's taller than Viktor. I look really short next to him._

_"Mari, Mari, Mari, let's just relax for a bit, hm? We gotta give all our PPDC recruits a nice, warm welcome."_

_Somehow we left the lab while I was still spasming and gesturing about stuff and being kind of incredulous. Eventually he hushed me up saying he'd tell me the whole story later, but there wasn't much to tell anyways._

_I was like, wait - are you the_ leader  _of Black Tiger?_

_He shook his head and laughed, Chris' grinning laugh, soft but 100% noticeable._

_He said_ no. Lilia is.  _I was like - wait, she's like, head honcho? Number one? Supreme dictator? I guess I thought she was high up, but the leader of Black Tiger . . . shouldn't they be sitting in a darkened office, glittering rings on their fingers, unusually dangerous pet animal ready to kill unwelcome visitors - probably some older businessman - but nope, apparently I've met Lilia and she's where the train stops._

_Then Chris started me on a tour. I was like, there's a tsunami warning, right? And he said, no, it's not coming this far inland, and I was like,_ you don't get it!  _I gave him a shove. Chris is so touchy-touchy. He doesn't mind._ The tsunami means there's a Kaiju! Live Kaiju means fresh Kaiju blue! We gotta get down to Hong Kong, we gotta send off a request for the archive files of my first thesis, _yadda yadda, I was telling him my plan but some spiky-haired traditional-outfitted, black-combat-boots tattooed guy came loping past, nodding to Chris and saying something about a Kaiju heading north closer to us._

_"Perfect!" I shouted in the middle of the hallway. Chris was still like, "there will be plenty of Kaiju, my dear," (roll of the R), but I was like,_ no! you don't get it! Viktor's dying in there-

_And for_ once  _Chris' face changed from that undertone of satisfaction that's ever so permanent and went to astonishment and something else, worry?_

_"Lilia said you were picking up the Jaeger-"_

_"-and its pilots, your surgeons have put Viktor in an induced coma and even if we wait out the brain swelling, if we do nothing about the blue poisoning, he'll be as good as a corpse once they take him out of it!"_

_"Where is he?"_

_I looked around the hallways; to be honest I really didn't have a good idea how to return to the ICU._

_"Never mind, I know where they'd put him," was all Chris said after a fraction of a second, and pulling me by the arm, we were off._

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Frustration and anger strengthens the Phoenix's fight, goes into her fists.

The Kaiju turns out to be an Otachi.

They clash underwater but the Otachi drags the Jaeger into the rocky shallows.

Her wings unfurl out as they scrabble for a hold on each other.

Now, add  _fear_ to the Phoenix's resolve.

With the good Sting blade, they furiously hurl themselves on top of the Otachi's kneck, kneading her throat with their knees and  _hack_ at the arm joint where the wing is fused.

The superheated twin knife edges sever as they're intended to and the Otachi hiss/yowls in pain, overturning the Phoenix, opening her jaws as her throat inflates and shines blue with readying acid.

Frantically the Phoenix ejects the K-missiles and fires them (not a full stock, but there are some resulting from the quick repairs done) in the Kaiju's general direction, prompting volatile pocketed explosions as acid meets the projectiles. (Something about this is definitely familiar.)

The Phoenix throws its arms over her helm and chest as acid sprays and ashes out, some kind of reaction from the firepower turning it dark black and filmy. When the rush of popping and banging and splattering has died away, the Jaeger looks down to give itself a once-over; where the blue-turned-black acid has stuck, its metal skin is slowly being metabolized.

_One, frustration; two, anger; three, fear; four, desperation._

Dashing in close to where the Otachi is recoiling from the blast as well, its face pocketed with smoking scars, the Phoenix's Sting blades eject and it almost crazily stabs the Kaiju repeatedly, gripping at any available body part with its other arm.

Quickly the Otachi goes into defensive throws, upsets them both in the fifty-foot depths which are more like shallows to the gargantuan combatants; the Phoenix still stabs and punches because  _how much time do they have left with this poisoned acid stuck to them?_

Long after the Otachi's fate has been sealed, the Phoenix's pilots still continue to stab down through its skin, making sure, sweaty, heightened urgency in the drift a potion that doesn't easily wear off.

Eventually they stagger back from the carcass.

Look down at their wounds. In some places, their armor continues to disintegrate, but it's slowed, and stopped elsewhere.

_Told you we'd make it._ Almost sneering from Plisetsky, maybe it's to cover up relief.  _What were you so fucking afraid for?_

Without a further word from Altin, the drift breaks apart.

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_It still felt really weird to be walking around with Chris, of all people. All he did when we got to Viktor's room was shake his head and say something like,_ Lilia didn't tell me . . .  _and then he excused himself to talk with the surgeons and specialists who were still there. Luckily they drew me into the conversation and Chris seemed impressed that my ideas were already accepted and everyone seemed to be on board with running my PhD project in real life._

_Of course I was just jabbing a finger at my phone the whole time, trying to goad everyone into action - hello, there's a Kaiju coming for us! Kaiju alert! Come on, they've got to be able to track it._

_Eventually Chris got the details of the paperwork I needed, said he would send off a request to Lilia for that - never mind that, how about the Kaiju? So off we went to that part of the building, which needs the same wrist-security thing to get in._

_All I can say is that it appears their tracking equipment is as good as LOCCENT's. The room's bigger, but fewer staff, of course, I mean, they don't have Jaegers to take care of. All they care about is where the money lands._

_The minute we walked in the three kids (they sure looked like kids) working the controls, or playing whatever app on their phones, got up respectfully for Chris and one of them reported the Kaiju had been eliminated. They gave the time and the coordinates, flashing on their projection screen, and said the probe was almost there to determine prospects of harvest, started talking about the closest retrieval team, but Chris looked at me and my stomach had already sunk. By the time we got there, I couldn't get any useful blue; too much time elapsed, ocean environment._

_The tech kids further confirmed the probe sensed through concentration of Kaiju contaminants in the surrounding water that cause of death was probably stab wounds or some kind of precise blow causing a lot of bleeding._

_Y'see, all Kaiju release toxins when injured or killed; especially when killed. However, the concentration blooms quickly and then drops off. So, yeah, not gonna work. Best case scenario, you're right there when the Kaiju's killed._

_I told Chris it was hopeless. He had to take care of this I guess, now that the Kaiju was down, look at the 'treaty zone' considering it was in the shallows or something . . . I don't know, I went back to Yuuri's room to wait._

_Have to wait for the next Kaiju - but even then, Yakov's being pretty ruthless lately, sending out Jaegers to finish off the Kaiju while still in the water, not even waiting at the Miracle Mile. As part of Black Tiger now, I gotta wait for the PPDC to drop the Kaiju on land and dash over, hopefully, as it's in death throes, for highest chance of success. Gonna be tough._

_I really hope Yuuri wakes up soon. I want to talk to him so damn bad._

_Mari out for now._

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Plisetsky sits in the Marshal's office. He's got a deep glower on his face. His blonde hair is a terrible mess. Knee bandaged.

"You  _DEFIED_ direct  _ORDERS!"_ the Marshal explodes, facing Plisetsky straight-on, backlit, solid stance.

"Not the first time, kick me out why won't you," Plisetsky mutters.

The Marshal sighs deeply, scrapingly, pacing, seems like his anger has dissipated. "Do you  _want_ to be a Ranger, Yurochka?"

"Of course." Plisetsky's tone is bitter. "But  _you_ won't let me."

"If you ever had respect for you belated grandfather, you would  _honor_ the boundaries I have for you," the Marshal says.

Plisetsky's eyes narrow. "You don't have to fucking sugarcoat it. I know he was dying because the shitty Mark 1s had no radiation shielding, and now I know he finally died because you ripped Lilia away from him."

"The fault. Lies with  _her,_ " the Marshal says.

"So! You say you're not the one to blame," sneers Plisetsky. He crosses one ankle on one knee. "Tell me your side of the story."

"There's nothing to tell, Ranger."

"Then why are you  _doing this to me?!_ " Plisetsky exclaims, standing up (but not moving any closer to physical confrontation). " _Let me live my fucking life! I know deda changed his mind before the end but -"_ Plisetsky tugs at his mess of hair, frustratedly. "You knew him best. Ever since I was born, he was  _sure_ I was destined to pilot. One of the best. And I've proved him right. But he was pretty much gone, a couple months before he died, when he changed his mind, you have to know, you would know what he wanted for me for the longest time." Plisetsky's tone is hard.

"You saw him once or twice in that time period," the Marshal points a finger. "I was there. When he died."

"Why? To tell him? The truth? Why Lilia left him?"

The Marshal's gaze slides sideways, turns to stone. He faces out, away from Plisetsky.

"To hear his last wish. That his grandson would live a good life. Full and free as possible in our world. But there's a limit on your life, as a Ranger. 42 years of age. The average lifespan of any pilot in the program. He didn't want that for you. So consider it a mercy you were even here at all."

Plisetsky's still glaring.

"You two fell out the last few years. Why would you even care about his last fucking wishes?"

The Marshal doesn't reply.

Plisetsky sits back down. His lips move, but sound barely exits. " _Guilt?_ " he says.

After a silence that rolls along with both of their breaths, the muted noise coming from outside, above and below, the Marshal speaks.

"You're done, Ranger," the Marshal says.

"What," Plisetsky replies.

"You're done."


	40. Solo Flight

" _There are no more fucking Rangers! You can't pull pilots out of your fucking pockets! I'm the best the_ _Academy's ever had! I'm not-- I'm not going to fucking live with my fucking father--"_

Plisetsky's shrieking. Surely everyone in the vicinity hears.

  
Everyone gives him a wide berth as some PPDC soldiers encourage him (physically) to go pack his things.

  
Altin is in his bunker with his headphones on when his copilot barges in. He doesn't take them off.

  
Plisetsky stares fumingly. They're clearly not on good terms.

  
"Yakov's kicking me out, bet you're happy," Plisetsky says, but the sneer lacks its usual edge.

  
Altin pushes his headphones down to rest around his neck.

  
"You sounded like an infant, screaming about how good you were back in the Academy," he reports. "Now even your almost-grandfather won't have you."

  
"He's guilty. He knows it's his fault and he's just fucking putting me in a cage to make himself feel better," tirades Plisetsky.

  
"Interesting theory."

  
"You know what would have happened if we didn't go kill that Kaiju up there? It would have broken through the Wall, killed people."

  
"It might not have, or, we might have died," Altin offers, still in a deadpan tone. He's scrolling through his phone.

  
Plisetsky snatches the thing out of his grasp and hurls it forcefully on the bed; the device bounces and falls onto the floor. Apparently this has succeeded in getting a rise out of Altin; his eyebrows scrunch darker and closer together. The blonde stands, a crazed look in his green eyes, looking like he might be at the end of his wits.

  
"Tell me you don't want me to stay," Plisetsky says. It's as much a warning as it is a challenge, as it is begging. Maybe he's breaking. No, maybe he sees it coming and he's looking through a crack in his heart to test it.

  
"I don't want you stay," Altin says.

  
Plisetsky looks like he's shaking.

  
"I don't want you for my copilot," Altin continues, the nail going deeper.

  
Yeah, Plisetsky's shaking.

  
"You're not a rival. You're not an equal. You refuse to be," Altin finishes.

  
He looks down but Plisetsky grabs his face back up and angrily, furiously kisses him, mouth and tongue - - there's a moment of give before Altin shoves him off, bodily. Plisetsky recoils against the opposite wall, concrete.

  
"You won't stay around for when they cable Yuuri and Viktor back in the Tango? The helicopters are out looking now," Altin continues conversationally, his eyes almost connecting with Plisetsky's gaze, not quite. Plisetsky's face is a mess of emotions, a tangle you couldn't undo, and there's water along the lower edges of his eyes -- well, there might have been, because he swipes there fast and sure and wipes it all away.

  
"No, I'm getting the fuck out of here before Yakov can drag me to wherever the fuck my fucking father is living right now." Plisetsky looks down, bows out, voice low and hoarse from the earlier screaming.

  
"Give me my phone," Altin orders as Plisetsky goes to slink off.

  
The blonde looks down at the device which landed near his feet, by the door. He looks back at Altin, waiting with an open hand. Plisetsky swipes the phone up. He crosses the few feet to Altin. Returns the object.

  
"You don't fucking know me," is all Plisetsky says.

  
There's a tilt of Altin's jaw. "You're an egotistical jerk with daddy issues, a simple puzzle from Academy day one. Solved it from what you would tell me, and what you wouldn't," Altin says calmly, and he's the one who gets up and leaves, phone in hand.

  
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O _K, have I got news for you. No, Yuuri hasn't woken up yet. But he should soon._

  
_So apparently, the Black Tiger-PPDC treaty's no longer in effect. I asked Chris about what Minako said,_ _about the TNT they sold 'em not being enough? I figure it's true and that's why. Is Lilia just stingy, I_ _wondered at first, but then, it's pretty obvious. She wouldn't want the breach closed. That's where her_ _money comes from._

_I guess she got what she wanted, anyways._

  
_My news? My job description. It's really frickin' awesome and really frickin' intimidating._

  
_But I'm gonna do it fast and I'm gonna do it well because it has to get done, if Viktor's gonna wake up_ _without brain damage, when they take him out of the coma in 10 days -- well, 9 days now._

  
_I'm designing Jaegers. A Jaeger._

  
_Well, that is, bioware Jaegers. That's why Lilia asked about the Kai2s. So far what I've understood is that_ _I'm making a blend of the old plans for Kai2s, which were supposed to be bots, sort of, not as powerful_ _as a piloted Jaeger of course, but able to provide a remote offense -- the idea was that eventually there_ _would be a small fleet, and they would still be 'piloted', and piloted solo, by trained people, in drift with_ _each other to communicate -- and the Black Tiger's own designs. Which are in that bay they told me was_ _jets and crap. I mean, there are jets, but what's taking up a lot more of the space is this mostly-built_ _prototype (and the Tango's carcass; she looks terrible, a whole arm missing, knee blown out, Connpod_ _completely separated, damn, I don't know how they made it this far)._

  
_The prototype's so damn cool._

  
_Picture . . . uhh, I'm not good at this . . . picture a Jaeger. Which one? Probably close to . . . it hasn't been_ _used for like, two years, but the Gipsy Danger. And you know those Body exhibits where they take the d_ _ifferent human systems and somehow preserve them and arrange them so you can wander around and l_ _ook at them all, you know? Well, pick a few of the main ones. So this Jaeger -- it's kind of like that. It's l_ _ike the skeletal system, with metal, the nervous, with wires, the muscular, with joints and some dull_ _orange, striated materials I haven't seen in any Jaeger so far -- and then actual arteries and veins over it._  
_There're pretty big main tubes wrapped around the arms, going into the chest, curved down to the knees._ _Some ports off them feed to smaller-sized veins. They look to be empty so far, somewhat opaque, looks_ _like they're reinforced with shining metallic loops._

  
_Where the reactor would be on the Gipsy, two main veins feed in, and there's a cavity in construction,_ _empty as of yet, only metal skeleton._

  
_Seeing the whole thing gave me shivers._

  
_The head is more rounded and sits differently on the chest than any Jaeger I've seen. It looks like the_ _actual helm visor has yet to be installed, but it's got a rounded outline, an oblong window for its future p_ _ilots._

  
_It's much less 'robot' than a Jaeger._

  
_Anyways, what have I got to do with this project they've been engineering for four and a half years, so_ _Chris says?_

  
_They can't build a pons system. That's beyond their reach. I don't like to think that they've tried to, failed,_ _and killed people (because it's really easy to mess shit up when trying to put two people in each other's_ _heads), but from Chris' tone, I suppose that's in fact what happened. Now they've got what's left of the_ _Tango, so they're a lot closer, but you know, in Minako's words, I once created a pons from garbage. It'll_  
_go a lot faster with me. So that's my main purpose._

_And the catch with these things? They're meant to fly solo. That's impossible, I tell Chris. He knows! He went to the Academy. He knows how much people have tried. Sure, the Kai2s were supposed to work for solo flight, but they were by no means full-on Jaegers. But apparently Lilia's got something up her sleeve. Whatever. All I told him is that I certainly can't design the world's first-ever single-pilot Jaeger in fewer than 9 days._

_  
So until then, there are other bugs to be worked out. I.e., the Jaeger -- which will inherit the namesake of the Jaeger Program's scrapped Kai2s -- is designed to run on nuclear power, but in a completely different way than current Jaegers. All these years, the PPDC has kept a tight lid on everything to do with Jaeger design and build, but they've tossed alien carcasses to the Black Tiger. So, that's all they've had to go on, and this beast apparently has reactor cores embedded all over its body to which a blood-like synthetic fluid flows to power it. That was the first thing I wanted to know, how do these cores work -- well, they work like how a Kaiju responds to long-low doses of radiation._

_  
The Kai2s don't use nuclear reactors to make gears turn or pistons pump. Nah, they use nuclear power as primary power. Goes straight to muscle, movement, in theory. Just like a Kaiju._

_  
The most apparent advantage, of course, is the decreased radiation exposure for the pilots. I looked in the plans, and sure, the core is still nuclear, but it's ringed with a shell of the Kaiju cells that are natural radiation sponges._

_  
Sorry, I'm just blabbing. The idea is so good though. I really want to just take some time and understand everything that's been developed so far, but nope, I gotta try and absorb only the necessary facts and get it running. The issues? Well, the reactor has some compatibility issues with the nearby fuel cells due to the fields created by the ring orientation. And of course, the drift. Making and testing. And finding pilots._

_  
I have work to do. I gotta go full-blast. Chris says they have way better coffee here than the crap at the Hong Kong Shatterdome._

_  
"You could still back out. Run off to Canada for an extended vacation. Settle down by a poolside with a martini, you know," he told me._

_  
I knew he was joking. But I made sure he knew I got breaks to go check on Yuuri. Sure._

_  
Now I'm supposed to go off to meet the workforce under me. Everyone who knows everything already. I'll definitely be using their knowledge. We'll get this thing running._

_  
Chris says leave the pilots to Lilia. Sure, I got enough on my plate now._

_  
If it works, oh, you can be damn sure I'll be a rockst -- wait, excuse me, phone's ringing._

_  
Huh, it's Yurio._

 

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"I'm sorry about Yurio. Didn't work out for you guys?"

  
Emil Nekola is back, his arm healed enough now. He, Altin, and the Cherno pilots eat lunch in the mess hall at the same bench.

  
"No," Altin says.

  
Today the food is rice and pork with mixed vegetables, including greens that haven't been cut very well.

  
"So, you guys all heard that apparently Yakov's request for funds went through? It's on every headline. Look, we almost beat out Taylor Swift's return single for number one trending on Youtube, 'Jaeger Program bid: a mistake?'," Mila reads from her phone. Sara's helping herself to Mila's noodles.

  
"Yeah, the Marshal's gone off to press conferences for the day," Emil adds.

  
"'The Wall of Death?' . . . 'JAEGERS ARE BACK! NOT CLICKBAIT!' . . . ha," Mila continues, scrolling.

  
"'Reopening Australia's shatterdome'," Emil reads from his own phone. "That's definitely wild speculation."

  
"'Where is Viktor Nikiforov?'," Mila adds on. "This news channel points out there hasn't been a peep from him . . . 'It's unclear whether he was in the Tango during the breach attempt' . . . oh, wow, there's a lot of theories and whatever on Pitfall."

  
"Top secret," Sara agrees. "People will invent their own stories."

  
"Still no word on the Tango?" Mila asks Emil, who shakes his head.

  
"Yeah, they're still out there looking," he says. "But, but, up in LOCCENT, hearing some talk of bringing in some more Academy pilots. And maybe even booting up some of the Jaegers currently collecting dust."

  
"This one blogger says we have an underground fleet of Jaegers ready to unleash," snorts Mila.

  
"Which?" Altin pauses eating to ask Emil, ignoring Mila's commentary.

  
"Depends on the pilots, partially, but maybe the Gipsy Danger. It's docked in Alaska. Just have to ship it over."

  
All of a sudden something's happening. There's shouting and a group of on-shift PPDC soldiers sprints together down the length of the hall and hangs a sharp left, quickly disappearing from sight.

  
"Huh," Mila notes, then goes back to her phone. "Oh, wow. The death toll is at twenty thousand some." She shakes her head and Emil nods grimly along. " . . . Damage to the Wall estimated at 700 million. Apparently Vancouver was hit really hard by the quakes. Yeah, wow."

  
"I hope we get another Ranger team in a Jaeger before the Breach opens again. You guys are doing great, but you should get a break once in a while."

  
"And we'll need a bigger force to redo Pitfall," Sara adds on. "You gonna finish this?" She pokes at the last bite of Mila's shrimp-egg noodles. Mila shakes her head and Sara twirls them up in her chopsticks accordingly.

  
"What's the timeline of that? How long for them to figure out exactly how it'll work?" Mila asks Emil.

  
"Not really supposed to mention it, but it's definitely something to do with what Mari said before she left. Just a matter of logistics."

  
Mila's blue eyes get wide. "What? The biosignature thing? How?"

  
"I guess we sent off the hypothesis to the HQ science division and they said, yes, turns out you need an actual Kaiju to get through. And probably a live one."

  
Seems like the Rangers sit to think on that for a while.

  
"Not too hard, Phoenix, you could just stab it and ride it down there," suggests Mila after awhile. Altin half-snorts like that is an oversimplification of the problem.

  
"It's too bad," Emil says belatedly. "About Mari. I get why she felt she had to start going behind the Marshal's back, because testing her ideas was just too dangerous and expensive by PPDC standards, but by chance, that's what actually needed to be done. Just a shame, really."

  
"We're just Rangers. What say do we have," sighs Mila.

  
No one really answers that.

  
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Yuri Plisetsky is gone too quickly from the shatterdome. A jet flies in, slipping by the shatterdome's detection.

  
Soldiers run out on strict orders to detain him. But the would-be Ranger is covered by the alien craft and makes a getaway. Purple cheetah-print jacket vanishes inside as the bottom hatch closes, PPDC soldiers stopped, no orders to fire on the plane, which quickly turns and makes its getaway.

  
_How did that jet get past our detection?_! the Marshal demands to know from LOCCENT. The problem's traced to an auxiliary cord in the bay that's come undone. Hard to tell if someone pulled it out on purpose or accident.

  
Altin is the last person you'd suspect. He sits as stoic as ever, the perfect model of a Ranger, in the mess hall. Apparently without a care in the world for his vanished, former copilot.

  
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_I was socially and mentally exhausted after six straight hours learning with the core team they have_ _designing this thing. Chris hung around for a bit; he contributed too. He's a smart cookie, don't get me_ _wrong, but he just never had the patience to buckle down and learn something. Anyways, he had to_ _leave an hour in and then it was just . . . ugh . . . blueprints and simulations and reactor cores . . . damn,_ _those cores they've made are NOT cheap and NOT simple, they deserve to be on the front page of, I_ _don't know, TIME or something._

  
_Eventually I told everyone, look, I need a break, I grabbed my package of notes and told them I'd pull out a_ _ll the useful stuff from the Kai2 design files and try to synthesize it all . . . alone for a while._

  
_I think I passed out once I sat down by Yuuri's bed again, door closed, ahhhh, sweet silence. The power_ _nap didn't last long and when I woke up I was super disoriented for a bit. I still feel like the time of day_ _doesn't matter anymore. I think it's late evening. I've barely slept the last 48 hours._ _After devouring some snack foods I grabbed from their cafeteria I got really focused in my work. There_ _were papers everywhere. All over the floor and on the counters. I'm like that, I need to see what I've got._

  
_Yuuri was still sleeping, for a while, for I think a couple hours and then, as I was trying to find the stack of_ _papers containing the secondary catalytic reaction I hear this,_ Mari? _croak. He woke up, finally! So of_ _course I started up running all the necessary checks on him, telling him very sternly to lie down; turned_ _out all his levels were good, the decay curve of the blue matched up excellently. Then I could breathe a_ _nd I gave him a good hug. By then he was fully awake._ _"Where are we? Where's Viktor?" he was asking frantically. I grabbed his glasses and stuck them on his f_ _ace. In the middle of this I realized I had forgotten to bring his meds along and started panicking. Shit!_ _But surely Black Tiger could get me some. But then he's in the refractory period from the anti-blue. I don't t_ _hink he can take his meds at all right now --_

  
_He had gotten up; they'd put him in a plain dark blue shirt and pants, stiff cotton; he was babbling like he_ _does when he gets panicky._ _I shushed him up,_ Viktor's fine _, I sort of lied to him,_ Shh, shh, get a hold of yourself and we'll go see him.

  
_So Yuuri did and before we set off he seemed to become aware that he was bandaged up around the_ _middle and he said his left leg hurt somewhat at the hip._ I know, I've been supervising you, you'll be fine in a couple days _, I told him. Minor frostbite, abdominal_ _wounds and some minor bruising along the leg, already healing. On the way through the hallways where_ _Yuuri gawked and was gawked at I explained to him where exactly we were. His only thoughts on that,_ _apparently, were, "oh" . . . I was sure he'd have more questions later once Viktor wasn't #1 on his mind._

  
_We got to the ICU and Yuuri looked terrible to see how terrible Viktor looked. He pressed his hands on_ _the window, moved around so he could see Viktor's (black-blue-stained) face._

  
_"We can't go in, can we?" Yuuri asked me, and I shook my head._

  
_And then he-- Yuuri -- asks me what happened!_

  
_I was like, you tell me, man! All I know is that the Tango's missing an arm, knee's blown out, helm's fallen_ _off, but somehow you all made it almost a couple kilometers from where she landed inland some ways to_ _the old abandoned Chukotka shatterdome, and hell if I know how you made it._

_Yuuri started babbling again, looking from me to Viktor to me to Viktor. From what he said, here's what I c_ _an tell happened:_

  
_When Viktor's arm (well, Viktor's-side-of-the-Tango's arm) got ripped off, Yuuri basically took on more of t_ _he neural load than he's supposed to. (You're not supposed to be able to do that in the drift, without a_ _tech on the other side adjusting that setting -- which they never would -- but these two . . . clearly they're n_ _ot your typical Ranger pair.) He said he just had to. And that's how they kept going, saved the Phoenix. But Yuuri says he got stuck there, and everything after the explosion from the emergency detonation is a_ _blur. He says he was unconscious the whole time, but definitely in drift . . . most of the time. He thinks it_ _cut out at some points._

  
_Between the two of us, we concluded that Viktor somehow walked the Tango to shore, was put up inland_ _by the tsunami, and dragged Yuuri to the shatterdome after the Jaeger shut down._ _How the hell he managed that, in his condition, I've no clue. Yuuri says he tried to hold on, he tried to_ _hold him up in the drift. Maybe that's it._

  
_"How bad is it? Is he recovering?" Yuuri was still frantic._

  
_I chewed my lip and spit out the truth about the poisoning, the coma and my idea._

  
_Yuuri got stuck on the poisoning part._ _"But the Tango has six anti-blue! Three for each of us," he was saying._

  
_"The helm's destroyed, practically. I don't think Viktor had all six. He at least got one fewer injection than y_ _ou did," I told Yuuri._

  
_Yuuri was breaking down, saying something like why? and, stupid!_

 _I was like, I TOLD you the man loves you, Yuuri, and Yuuri was just blubbering, "You were right! You told_ _me to but I didn't!" and he collapsed into/onto me, he might be taller but I'm still the big sister. He was c_ _rying like the world was ending, I couldn't understand what he was saying for the longest time-- then I_ _got it, it was, "I didn't tell him, I didn't tell him Mari," over and over. Tell him what, Yuuri?_

  
_He was gripping my arms like I was the thing holding him down._

  
_"I didn't tell him I love him," Yuuri said, snuffling back sobs, and I knew my little brother was absolutely_ _terrified and heartbroken. The panic in his eyes was making ME panic. I tried to think of something to_ _say. Oh, yeah._

  
_"Yuuri, I don't think you would have both made it here unless he knew that," I said. And I'm still pretty_ _damn sure of it. But Yuuri didn't look convinced._

  
_"I tried, in the drift, but I wanted after to -- but now -- he's like this," he said, very sadly, still looking into_ _the ICU room. " . . . You were right."_

  
Come on _, I told him, he should still be resting, and we went back to his room._

  
_I asked him if he was hungry and he said no. The anti-blue will do that. He looked at all my papers_ _everywhere. I looked at his eyes to see for any signs of burst blood vessels indicative of undergoing an_ _increased neural load; couldn't find anything serious. There's no diagnostics for that. You'll just find out_ _next time you try to drift. He looks OK, though._

  
_Yuuri asked me what I was doing and why we were here and not under the care of the PPDC._ _I told him about the whole search-and-find fiasco._

  
_"Thanks, Mari," Yuuri said to me. That made it all worth it. I felt proud of myself. I still feel pretty proud,_ _but can't let that stop me from continuing to work my ass off._

  
_I started telling him about my job description. I told him Lilia was the leader, and also Yurio's_ _grandmother. Yuuri bugged out, like, "what?!". Kinda started rambling like I did before to you, whoever's_ _listening. And then mid-sentence I turn back around and he's asleep, just splayed out on the covers._

  
_Back to just me and my brainwork, until Chris knocked and came in, beckoning me out to inform me Lilia_ _had my requested papers on their way._ Did she have pilots en route, too? _I asked,_ and two of them? _Because she better know I can't build a solo drift -- and Chris was like, well, she has a start, and who_ _comes down the hallway lugging a offensively patterned suitcase but a very disgruntled Yuri Plisetsky._


	41. Trust

_Yurio walked up to my brother, sleeping there, like he was some sort of Kaiju specimen, suitcase trailing in a hand. He poked him. He poked him! Yuuri didn't wake up and I made an angry noise through my teeth and made a very emphatic gesture at Yurio to stay off him!_

_But when Yurio looked at me he actually looked concerned, he was like, "he's ok right?" and I was like, yeah he's fine. I wasn't so angry anymore. I asked why he was here, and apparently it's for taking out the Kaiju that was heading for us._

_"Didn't happen to grab any of its blue when it died?" I said grimly._

_Chris interrupted our reunion to tell Yurio Lilia would come to see him and then me as well (I guess I'm some kind of side dish, or she trusts me to be self-directed; hope it's the latter), and then he headed off._

_"Why," Yurio asked me. "Also, that's Christophe Giacometti."_

_"Yeah, we worked together for a bit."_

_"Huh," is all Yurio would say. I'd guess he feels in over his head despite the rebel aesthetic. Something about the hunch in his shoulders. "So Black Tiger picked up Yuuri? Why? and why do you need blue? Got a hit list?" He looked around the room. "Where's Viktor?"_

_"That's why. Viktor's in a coma with advanced blue poisoning and the way to get him out without brain damage is to get some fresh blue and implement my first PhD thesis project."_

_" . . . The fuck? Where's the Tango?"_

_"Black Tiger hauled her in here. Oh yeah, I think Lilia's going to ask you to pilot."_

_"Hold on, so the Black Tiger . . . fished the Tango out of the ocean after the blast?"_

_I explained._

_Yurio chewed his lip, grabbed a roll of Rockets candy out of his animal print jacket and shoved half of them in his mouth._

_"So an alternate Jaeger to go kill a Kaiju and harvest its poison. You know, the PPDC will notice you used their top-secret shit to build a Jaeger for the black markets."_

_"Well you're here," I said, rolling my eyes, then rubbing them, cause I was tired._

_"Even if I agree to pilot -"_

_"-Which you'll have to, because you're here now-"_

_"-I don't have a copilot."_

_"Oh, the Kai2 is supposed to run solo."_

_Yurio's eyes bugged out. "What? So they just want to fucking blow my brain open then."_

_"Don't be an idiot. I'm the one designing the thing, and it won't be ready in time. You'll need a copilot. But if Lilia wants you to try solo, you'll have to. She's got bigger stuff going on than I've ever considered. You'll be wishing you were back at the shatterdome soon enough," I proclaimed._

_"No I fucking won't," Yurio muttered, plopping down on a stool at the opposite counter, propping his suitcase against the legs, crossing his arms._

_"Where was Yakov sending you, anyways?" I pried._

_"A fucking expensive condo topped with a stupid penthouse suite, northern Europe."_

_"Hey, would they take me?" I perked up. "Who lives there?"_

_"My fucking father," is all Yurio would say, and then clammed up. Sure, have it your way, I was like, I got shit to work on!_

_Soon enough Yurio left to walk around and explore or whatever, not that he could see much interesting without the wrist keycard._

_So here I am now, back to trying to figure all this out. There's a document I've got running on my tablet of all the further questions I have for the regular staff. I'll have to go and ask them before long._

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The Academy yields a new pilot pair, Russian heritage as well, Georgi Popovich and Anya Lermontov. They're given a less festive introduction. It's all work from here.

Papers and forms and conference calls fly across the globe. The USA has tight hands on the Gipsy and will only release it to a Ranger pair that at least halfways represents America by  _jus soli._ It proves no easy task to get the other option, a mostly-rebuilt Mark 2, out of deep storage in Russia, either; though no politician will say a word, everyone knows the mafia, fueled by Kaiju industry, have got their hands deep in the government's pockets.

Yakov, the PPDC, the UN panel, pulls some international strings. The Jaeger's a restored, upgraded Eden Assassin, hauled down from inactive the Vladivostok shatterdome.

Of course, every move is tracked by the media.

The associated political conflict by international allegiances and worldwide priorities called into question is all any news outlet will talk about. After such huge expenditure on the Wall from Pacific Rim countries, the nations are now turning to invest back in the program they abandoned? - How big is the threat? - Can the Jaeger program be trusted? - Are there ulterior motives?

Protesting online groups gain traction; those who defend the increased reliance on the Jaeger program and those who denounce it.

(Leo was born in America. He talks to Guang-Hong about an idea he has, when they both take a break to get coffee and talk about NHL conference finals.)

Mari Katsuki stays awake for inhuman hours, coffee glued in a hand.

B2 threatens to open but stays ultimately quiet.

The induced coma keeps swelling down, but the poisoning maintains hold of Viktor's brain just the same.

Four days pass, and all this is still in progress.

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_I've been forcing Yuuri to rest. I'm really just nervous about him going off meds suddenly. The neural load increase, physical and mental strain, and now the anti-blue makes his anxiety meds impossible for another . . . oh, 10 days or so now._

_My documents came through, really quickly. Some of Sofya's stuff is in there, just because I referenced it for my own research. Not like I have time to do much with it anyways._

_I told her the solo drift details don't work out in eight days. That was two days ago._ You don't want to lose Viktor, do you? Of course not. 'Cause if you lose Viktor, you lose my brother, you lose me _. I figure she knows that as much as I do. The better job we do at taking care of them, those two Rangers, the better chance we have they won't go running back to the PPDC. Not that they're in any state to go running off, hah._

_On the news last evening or morning or whatever it was, the official release said one Jaeger had been lost during Pitfall. Apparently Yakov's let the public know it was some sort of offensive, but no details on the scale. And no word on if Rangers have been lost, or who, or what, from the PPDC. Saving face, likely._

_Wonder if everyone else thinks they're dead. I'd like to get word back. Maybe I can contact someone if I have time . . . Damn, the only person I have their personal cell of is Minako . . ._

_Another division is doing a hell of a lot of testing on Yurio. Not just that, but trying to integrate him into what I've developed so far. We're racing each other but we're both behind the clock; the breach(es) could open any day now._

_And then just this morning - mmf, scuse me, gobbling down a cold meat sandwich, eat on the run, I'm just checking Yuuri's bloodwork right now - Lilia told me she doesn't have any other pilots. Flat out. Black Tiger doesn't have an Academy, of course not, they've never needed one. I ranted about how impossibly monumental it is to develop a solo drift. There are retired pilots in her ranks (e.g., Chris) but this is gonna be a tight mission. We need fresh Rangers. Someone who can jump right in. So, Lilia asked/strongly suggested Yuuri._

_I was like, no! Absolutely not! . . . But the more I think about it, the more I can't see any way out. I refuse to stick Yurio in some half-baked wild guess of a solo drift to spear a Kaiju and gather fresh blue. Nope. Still. Still._

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_So I return back aroud 9 to Yuuri's room (he's gone out on jogs even though I said not to) and he gets up and immediately starts asking about piloting details for the Kai2. Turns out Yurio told him about it. Yegh. I keep forgetting Yurio's Lilia's grandson. Actual grandson. Man, he's just in a hell of spot for a kid, right?_

_I told him, Yuuri, you can't. You're recovering. You're not even on your meds! And he admitted he was having some withdrawal symptoms._

_I groaned and even though I was super grouchy and tired from working the whole day on the stupid Kai2 reactor and an especially tricky problem to do with the fluid pressure going up to the hub, Black-Tiger lingo for the Connpod, I had to dig the full and complete list out of him._

_He admitted to shakes and nausea. General sleeplessness and night terrors coming back. Hate to do it, but I got Black Tiger to order a herb mix made by this one medicine shop that actually helps him sleep. Nothing like hearing sudden blood-curdling screams at 1 a.m. while I'm trying to work._

_Anyways, you don't want to be jumping around in a drivesuit with all that going on._

_"There's no one else?" he asked me urgently and I shook my head. "Then I have to! Viktor'll die! I'll be putting everyone in danger; the Kaiju will come here now that Yurio's here, and if you have no Jaeger-"_

_"They have deep weapons storage," I tried to distract him. "Plenty of firepower to-"_

_"Not to harvest the Kaiju poison for Viktor."_

_I could see, then, by the look in those stubborn eyes behind blue glasses, that resistance was useless. I groaned again and forced my brain to start thinking. Eventually I came up with a pretty OK idea. Since Yuuri seemed to have escaped unscathed from an increased share of the neural load, he and Yurio could balance each other off. Yurio does more of the physical, Yuuri's the mental support to make sure Yurio doesn't blow his brains out in a solo situation. Yuuri's not at one hundred percent, but I don't think Yurio is, either. He seems more moody and less prone to lash out as of late._

_That wasn't my strongest reservation, though._

_"I'm not letting you in a drift with Yurio again unless you guys have a nice, long, productive talk first and AGREE on exactly how you'll communicate in there," I told my brother. Using the same stubbornness we both inherited._

_"Fine," Yuuri agreed._

_"And if Yurio refuses to -"_

_"He won't," Yuuri said determinedly. " . . . We sort of . . . stick around each other around here."_

_He had a point. I had seen them in close proximity, same room or in the cafeteria together. Sure, it definitely feels better to travel in a pack when you're surrounded by a mix of tattooed, weapon-toting thugs and lab-coated scientists working on stolen plans from the biggest international army syndicate in the world._

_Actually, personally, I'm getting more comfortable. They speak my langauge, you know? Not only am I working with tons of people but everyone's on board, everyone's pushing the envelope, as hard as it is._

_I also asked Yuuri how he was doing with, y'know, Viktor being how he is. . . Yuuri was like,_ how do you think?  _and he's really torn up about it. I keep telling Yuuri, it was Viktor's choice, you know. You gotta remember that. But much good that does, you know._

_I'll catch him outside the ICU, just looking at Viktor, and from Yuuri's face, it's like it hurts him to look, but he can't not._

_If Viktor could see Yuuri like this, he'd snap out of the coma without a damn second of hesitation._

_But even through tears, Yuuri won't hear a single word of me being the voice of reason and cautioning against him returning to piloting so soon. So I guess Yuuri and Yurio will talk tomorrow morning and we'll try and build the drift. And we'll test them._

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Mari Katsuki shoves Yuuri Katsuki and Yuri Plisetsky inside a room and shuts the door outside.

Katsuki goes to sit on the bed he's been sleeping on, or trying to sleep.

Plisetsky leans against the opposite counter, cluttered with papers and folders, arms crossed, hair back in a half-bun.

"You and Viktor saved me 'n Altin from the Scunner. Thanks," Plisetsky says.

"It's what we do. You're welcome," Katsuki replies. He looks tired but pleased.

"So, this isn't going like last time?" Plisetsky says.

"It can't," Katsuki says, firmly, softly.

There's a steel-hard silence.

"Just fucking . . . just fucking drop everything in the drift. It's fine," Plisetsky says.

Katsuki nods, like that admission was the lead-in he needed. "Yes, I can do that," he says, with a little clear of the throat; he's holding one arm close to himself by the elbow as the limb tremors rebelliously. "I always meant to apologize. I know now hiding in the drift doesn't work. In the long run."

"No kidding," Plisetsky says.

"There's no chance Otabek will . . . ?"

"Fuck no," Plisetsky spits out. "You know we trained together for a while, Yuuri. I learned from you. I tried your trick on him. He fucking hates me now. He's  _glad_ I fucking left." Plisetsky scrapes the floor with the side of his shoe.

"Oh." Katsuki looks back up at Plisetsky. "Well, you'll have to drop everything in the drift, then, too." Pause. "We'll know if the other person is hiding something. We've done this before."

Plisetsky nods. He starts chewing on a nail. That hard and tough silence stamps its dominance back down on the conversation.

"As for me," Katsuki starts back up, "You'll probably get . . . Phichit's death. I don't think it will be too much. I've gone through it with, uh, with Viktor. And it's possible the drift might bring up Pitfall. Probably it will, for both of us. That's going to be hard to hold on to. But, since it's a shared experience, I'm sure we can avoid the RABIT. Together." Katsuki pauses as if thinking. "That's all I can think of for myself. Otherwise . . . thankfully no additional traumatic events."

There's an obvious,  _so, how about you?_ hanging in the air. Plisetsky looks like he might explode with agitation.

The words burst and run out when they do. "Yeah, well my family's a fucking circus and there's a lot of shit there so -" Plisetsky shakes his head and moves to go. "You'll probably regret this," he mutters. "Hope I won't," he adds, even quieter. And leaves, lean figure, angular impression.

Katsuki stares after the abrupt exit.

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The two pilots stand in the hub of the Kai2. It's sleeker and less cluttered with panels and buttons and storage than the Connpod of a Jaeger. White-blue vein tubes stripe the dark, curved interior. The hub window is a long, oblong shape, with a wider field of view than that of Jaegers'; the docks are solid but their design is more kinetic, and the base suit barely tethers at all except for power. Thin armor locks overtop. Mari has assured the pilots that it's a spacecraft-quality design, using a helicoidal structure to maximize endurance and stress resistance without weight or bulk.

Most noticeably, there are no helmets. The pons system fits to the back of the head and joins to the spinal interface, connects the pilots to the machines. Emergency suits for an underwater collapse are nearby.

Both pilots seem like caged animals released to the wild, cautiously exploring new territory.

"You left without telling me any specifics," Katsuki says challengingly after their fit in the docks has been checked. "We can still call this off. What am in for? You couldn't open to your Academy graduate, so why to me?"

"Otabek's different. We know each other too well. Not well enough. I had to hide it from him. You're not him."

". . . . I'll trust you," Katsuki says, at last, with a sigh.

"Stand by, Yuris," Mari says. "Comms working?"

The pilots respond affirmative.

"What do you think about this?" Yuuri raises an arm in the dock. A beating thrum starts up in the background. The veins lining the dark interior seem to stir and pulse, fuel propelled through them. Colored overlays flicker onto the window. They're more inky and less neon than those of Jaegers'.

"It feels good so far," Plisetsky says. "It fits."

"Alright. Initiating drift, guys. Five . . . Four . . . Please,  _try_ to cooperate in there . . . One . . ."

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_Everything looked good. I didn't have time to work with the programmers here to bring me up a nice clean waveform, but we got error bars and that's close enough. After neural handshake, the Yuris sucked into the drift together pretty strong._

_Neither Chris nor Lilia was there; they've got a lot of territory to cover between the two of them I guess. The senior researcher, jaded by lack of support for Kaiju study at other institutions (a common story here), is anywhere from 40 - 60 - I can't tell. His name's Celestino and he has long wavy hair and wears gold earrings and a grey-blue labcoat. I've read some of his papers. Top-notch stuff. I think we've fallen in just fine. Anyways, he was there._

_Since no one, not even the people who helped build up the drift programming (using PPDC documents as a blueprint) has ever monitored one before, it was me at the helm, kind of sweating but kind of feeling all right because how many times have I watched Guang-Hong do this, and Minako ramble about it?_

_So everything ran fine. We weren't gonna move the Kai2 now, that was scheduled for later in the afternoon. Just wanted to make sure we actually had a viable pilot pair._

_Things went well. They passed all of the prescribed tests._

_I gave them a couple minutes to chill in the drift, then gave them notice and took them out._

_I turned around and nodded at everyone, gave a thumbs up. So we were gonna move it in the afternoon, that was the plan._

_Until I got out of the control room we'd set up (the Kai2 is a bit shorter than most Jaegers, and it's also strange being in a rectangular bay instead of a rounded dome) and Yurio went_ sprinting  _past me, having gone down the lift from the hub of the Kai2. (To exit and enter, the hub window splits open down the middle and scrolls apart like the automatic doors at your local grocery.)_

_I tried to catch him, but he got away, dashed out. I was gonna follow, but Yuuri was right behind him and put a hand on my shoulder to stop me._

_Yuuri must have understood from my expression that_ What the hell?!  _was what I was currently thinking._

_"He's fine, I think. Just give him a bit."_

That's from your memories?  _I had to ask._

_Yuuri tilted his head. "I don't think so."_

_I must have said something to the effect of, this isn't good oh boy this isn't good because Yuuri just restated, "I think he'll be fine. I think it's fine."_

_But I could tell Yuuri's mind was off somewhere thinking about something as he finished the sentence. Sure enough, he left. "I'll talk to him later," he said, tossing it backwards as reassurance._

_I watched him go. He has a strong silhouette. He walks so confidently now. He has to be. We all have to be. Still, this isn't the Yuuri you knew before Viktor was his copilot._

_I'm proud of my brother._

_I trust him._

_Mari out._

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[some crap art](https://sciencemakedrugtho.tumblr.com/post/163255966720/some-nscvt-sketch)


	42. One and Two

Plisetsky's retreated to the room that is where Mari dumps her stuff, where Katsuki sleeps, where Plisetsky's also dumped his stuff.

When Katsuki enters and sits on the bed, again opposite Plisetsky at the counter, he says,

"That's the first drift we should have had."

Plisetsky's shoulders are raised, on edge, hands jammed in the pockets of his red and blue and white bomber which he's done up over his black hoodie. Hood of which is pulled up over his head.

"It fucking sucked ass," Plisetsky grates. But it's not really angry.

"We made it through all of Mari's tests."

Plisetsky just keeps standing there.

"I can see why you came here instead of go stay with your father," Katsuki says.

"And I can see the Knifehead incident wasn't what I thought it was," Plisetsky returns.

". . . Your father hasn't landed in jail yet? Or at least gotten in trouble?"

"Maybe. He just uses the money he's gained and runs off if it happens. Hope it fucking catches him and destroys him someday, the trail he leaves," Plisetsky says. "It's really my mom's fault. For marrying the guy. Falling for the image he gives off. You know, Lilia, for the few times she actually got involved in my life, even she could tell my father would just fuck my life up if I stayed with him much longer, especially after mom went crazy - so that's part of the reason she talked to Yakov to let me into the Academy in the first place - but I hated it so fucking much. The Academy was supposed to be some sort of surrogate parent for me. To me it was fucking  _hell_. I was a shitty kid already and I'm sure the only reason I wasn't expelled was because I was  _Nikolai Satina's grandson and Yakov Feltsman's copilot's grandson_ -."

All these words come spewing out and in the conclusion, Plisetsky seems to realize this. But Katsuki seems like he has found nothing about this awkward or interruptive.

"You could go after him now. Your father. PPDC or Black Tiger. I'm sure either would do the work," Katsuki muses.

"What good would that fucking do? He's left his mark." Plisetsky's half-sneer breaks mid-cuss and sounds more pained.

". . . This is the first time you've ever told anyone?"

"Sure."

"As an older and wiser Ranger . . . " Katsuki begins half-jokingly, "Don't wait that long. I messed myself up. Don't mess yourself up."

"Hard when you don't have anyone you can fucking trust."

"Fair point."

They sit, almost mirrors of each other.

"Do you miss your mother?" from Katsuki.

"I miss what she was. I want what she could've been. Most of what I've got is all the fucking times I was alone cause she had shit to do. At first it was heroic. She was broken over how Nikolai suffered from radiation poisoning and wanted to overhaul Jaeger design, Jaeger  _pilots_ themselves - noble, sure. Then he died, and she panicked, and went back to and married my shit father and went crazy and so I don't want to see her again."

"That's really not what the drift said," Katsuki comments softly.

Plisetsky looks sideways.

"I  _hope_ I never see her again," he corrects. "I can't forgive her, anyway. Just because she found his ugly side eventually doesn't excuse her from taking the guy in the first place! She could've had anyone! She didn't have to go back to  _him!_ She didn't have to worry about money! We could have lived in a one-bedroom apartment with a two-burner stove, instead of a seven-bedroom house with a four-car garage, projection screens in every room, latest fucking Maserati or whatever, and I'd have been so - much -  _fucking_ \- -  _better!"_

Plisetsky pauses for a fraction of a second, his green eyes like broken sea glass, and he keeps going. "And when he hit  _her,_ too, and she figured out what he was doing to me you think she did a  _single thing? NO! SHE JUST STAYED LATER AND LATER AT HER LAB AND - I KNOW SHE WAS SICK! I KNOW SHE FUCKED HERSELF UP, OK? BUT THIS - SHE - I'M - NOW I'M FUCKED UP, TOO!"_ Plisetsky's yelling, got a hand ravelled in his jacket, to his chest. " _I'm fucked up,_ " he says. " _The best Ranger the Academy's ever produced. Fucked up."_ His eyes are dashed with mad tears. He grabs some kind of metal canister Mari's left on the counter and hurls it full-force across the room. It dents the wall with a  _THUNK._ He turns and swipes all the papers off the counter. You can tell his shaking hand barely restrains itself from crumpling and ripping and tearing. There are pens and holders and trays on the counter. He hurls them across the room too.

_THUNK-CRASH-CHIKK-THUMP-KBASH_

Katsuki still sits there. Without witnessing the last ten seconds, you might have thought someone would have expressed a political opinion or two; that's the amount of surprise on the Ranger's face.

"What are we fucking doing here?" Plisetsky says, breathing hard, the counter cleared, the words running together hoarsely and contemptuously, maybe for time itself.

"Being better men than they think we are. Better men than we've dreamed we are. Hopefully," Katsuki says.

"You might be," Plisetsky says bitterly. " _You_ are."

"And you will be," Katsuki follows. He starts picking up the stuff Plisetsky's thrown. In a couple moments, Plisetsky jerks to action and starts gathering papers off the floor.

"I miss the nuclear reactor. It's like some fucking teddy bear I can't sleep without," he says. It seems like he's pulled himself together, like maybe he's used to the task, cabling inward and tying taut.

"Talk to my sister. Everyone seems to like her already."

They work together in somewhat companiable silence for a few minutes.

"So we're good now?" Plisetsky says.

"What?"

"Me and you?"

"I thought we were always good. On my part. We technically always were drift compatible."

"Sure," Plisetsky snorts.

"I should let you know - if Mari hasn't told you - I'm off my medications because of the anti-blue treatment."

"Yeah, yeah, that's why you're the mental backup and I'll be the physical main here."

"And also that I might get more anxious. It's not great. I hope I don't full-out panic. But it's possible. If that happens, and Mari's around . . . get her," Katsuki says. "I'm definitely not 100%."

"Me either. What, you didn't see me fucking lose my head just now? Ha, ha. On the note of awkward behaviour issues, don't touch me. - That sounds harsh-"

Katsuki drops a collection of pens back in their holder and shakes his head. "No, I've noticed you're not touchy."

"Not unless we're sparring or fighting or something," Plisetsky says. "We agree on it."

"OK," Katsuki says.

They finish tidying up and decide to get food.

"Tell me about the rules you broke at the Academy," Katsuki says as they walk the halls. The strange variety of people at the Institute (that's it's codename, officially something to do with aeronautic production) are slowly becoming as much background noise as the PPDC staff and soldiers at the shatterdome.

Plisetsky smirks. His shoulders have lowered from before. Clearly he's lived with everything ever since it has happened, and nothing erases, everything stays. But something's different now. There are now  _two_ where before there was  _one._  "Where do I start?"

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{Her pills still haven't come, and neither has her food in the usual time.

People enter. Her drawings are piled up on the floor. Her weaving has gone erratic, the pattern's broken and frazzled.

They grabe her by the arms and haul her off when she refuses to go with them.

She screams for мама, because these people are supposed to  _obey_ мама!

мама wouldn't take her away! мама wouldn't lock her up! She wouldn't take her from her nice room, with her brushes and stone and weaving!

But that's what's happening.}

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On the ninth day since the Tango's rescue, the breach opens.

Leading up to the event, Predictions wing of the PPDC pins the time at 3:45 p.m. Unmanned instruments in Hong Kong's Black Tiger headquarters, surrounded by debris and too few aid workers coming to the bone slum for the amount of destruction since the tsunami, transfer data to the Institute up north, and those there reach an approximately similar conclusion.

The PPDC isn't ready for a second try at closing the breach, so this will be a routine mission.

Spirits have hung hard and low in the PPDC since the search party returned empty-handed. You can see it when Mila Babicheva leans her chin on her knuckles at their bench in the mess hall; Emil pokes at his food with his fork and his attempts at small talk don't make it far. Georgi and Anya have taken the Tango pilots' vacated spots and Altin and Mila share care of Makkachin. Sara talks less than usual, if that were possible. The Cherno pilots explain shortly to the new Eden Assassin Rangers that this stiffness isn't the normal mood.

They've been told  _nothing_ being found is not a bad sign - the Tango could still be out there - but the ocean is a wide, wide place. And all Rangers know that.

No one says it,  _I can't believe they're gone -_ it's too soon for that.

The family of Yuuri Katsuki is given  _Missing In Action._

The shatterdome is always busy. Funds finally flow. Someone else, a few people, have come in to replace Mari.

But so many things are irreplaceable.

"All we can do is close the breach," was all Sara said after they received news of the search party, after the fleet returned with nothing.

"Even then, it's not  _worth_ it. I don't feel like it is. This  _never_ should have happened," Mila had added.

"It was a gamble," Emil had said. "I guess Minako didn't have time to run the odds."

"It was ultimately the Marshal's decision," Mila had said acerbically.

They have discussed this many times before and Emil has told them how it happened in LOCCENT.

"After we finish this, Mari deserves some big kind of payoff," Emil has said. "She was just not the right person to, well, be right. But that doesn't change the truth, and I'm sure everyone knows it."

All three Jaegers stand ready in the bay the day of the breach opening. The pilots stand, not suited up, down by the entrance, talking amongst themselves, phones open to the Predictions app. No notice detailing how many Kaiju are coming or what categories has been issued. Time files down. The dome opens on the east side, as if to let a Jaeger out, but only transport vehicles, workers and cargo move in and out.

"I'll go up to LOCCENT and see if there is any news," Emil offers, but then down the stairway comes Guang-Hong himself. A rare sight to see him out of LOCCENT these days. His brown hair is neat as usual. Leo de la Iglesia is behind him, in a long dark blue coat, slacks and white dress shirt. "Oh, good. Any news?" Emil asks the pair.

"High activity from B1 and B2. We expect at least five Kaiju, and up to ten," Guang Hong answers.

"All at once?"

"Categories?"

"So seven?"

The questions follow quickly.

"That's too many. Georgi, Anya, no offense, but you're new. We shouldn't even send them on such a tough mission -" Mila starts.

"But there would only be us two, then, and, pfff!" Emil says, shaking his head. "I'm game to go try if that's orders, but we're gonna need heavy support. Support like no one's seen before."

"Hopefully we can be," Guang Hong says, hands clasped in front of himself.

"We're cleared for drift compatibility. Been spending some off-time training," Leo adds.

" _You_ were the weird gibberish log in the sim room?! I thought that was some error," Mila bursts. "What the?! You aren't even Academy gradu-"

"The Mark 1s were piloted by some of the best, before the Academy existed," Guang Hong says. "Anyways, we-"

He's drowned out by the roaring drone of a cabled Jaeger coming in.

An earth-shaking metal vibration as it's let down into a dock; cables  _click_ off and swing free; men in bright jackets swarm, waving guiding signals. The silent warrior is tracked into an empty slot, joining the other three Jaegers there.

It's the Gipsy Danger.

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All the Black Tiger Institute crew who have worked for the past four years engineering the Kai2 make good on their promise. It's fast.

It might be smaller, might not be as herculean. But it's smooth. Its pilots have had to adjust to the hugely decreased lag time between initiating a motion and the machine completing it, compared to a Jaeger.

On the exterior, it's a dark red, but brighter than any Jaeger, and surprisingly without any Black Tiger insignia.

Inland though the Institute is, it doesn't take long for a pair of double rails, presumably retaken precisely for this purpose by Black Tiger, to ferry the Kai2 down to the shore on a specially built platform.

The two Yuris are locked in drift. They stand side-by-side. Their suits and light armor are red to match the Kai2's exterior, with sections of dark navy blue.

An hour before Yuuri Katsuki was a frantic mess. He seems to have recovered. Still, all  _firsts_ are uncertain, and this is a debut run, on which a heavy hope rides.

 _"We're alive,"_ is the confident reminder in drift. They've got a heart, they've got fuel pumping through arteries and veins, they're no monolith; they're a quick, kinetic threat.

Mari Katsuki is a much chattier in-ear command than Guang-Hong and LOCCENT ever was.

"OK guys, remember, just stay out once you reach the mark and wait for a Kaiju to come to you. We're going to avoid the PPDC for now. Uh, and don't wreck the captures. Definitely kill it, but don't wreck the captures. And remember to activate them when I tell-"

"Mari, we know," Yuuri returns, but his tone is loving.

"OK OK! I'm just nervous! Good luck! All that! I'll be here! The whole time!" A nervous laugh. "Well, off you go."

Plisetsky snorts.

The Kai2 wades into the water, seals up for submersion and boosts off under the waves, in a fashion no existing Jaeger could accomplish.

 _\- Feels really natural, huh?_ from Plisetsky.

-  _For sure._

_\- Look, just don't fucking break down like you did before we got in here and we'll be fine._

_\- I know we'll be fine._

_\- We'll get the blue. Viktor will be fine too._

_\- I was going to say you're too confident . . . but that's what we need._

_\- Fuck yeah. Overconfidence is gonna drive this bitch of a mission._

They jet, torpedoing through the ocean, following the arrow pointing, overlaid on the depths around them, with the distance estimate decreasing. Everything seems to be working fine; Mari gives frequent updates.

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The Breach isn't nice this time around.

It ruptures open, bursting and lancing orange-to-blue spits of energy out through the deep, cold water, as it births five Kaiju simultaneously.

The four Jaegers waiting have journeed way farther than the miracle mile, gone closer to the target to try and prevent any possible divergence. Cherno and Eden, and Phoenix and Gipsy, group together, the experienced Rangers meant to shadow the new pairs. Who knows if five Kaiju will give them the chance to do so, though.

The Cherno has her Z-14 fists and nickel rolls.

The Gipsy Danger owns an I-19 Plasmacaster; the Eden, running the newest model, the IB22, more suited for underwater combat. Gipsy's got the TRISTEM2.1 three-pronged ejectable blades hidden, equipped inside forearm panels, recycled from the Chrome Brutus; as for the Eden, it also has sawblade weapons mounted on its back which can be transferred as deadly, crescent-shaped hand-combat tools.

And the Phoenix has her missile stock replenished, both Stingblades ready to go.

Chaos descends as the writhing mess from the Breach meets its metal resistance.

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The Kai2 has reached its predetermined wait point. They've had to head south, mostly. This, hopefully, will tempt the Kaiju westward, towards where the first wave of resistance, Jaegers, are likely waiting. And with any luck, one will get away and present itself to the Yuris waiting.

"Looks like the Breach just opened!" from Mari, not too long after the Kai2 stops to wait. Its weapons are out. They seem conservative compared to the impressive cannons and casters of Jaegers, two blades held by a handle perpendicular, supported by the forearm and scything outward. In a pinch, they can eject and link together to form a double-ended stave. But reinforced nanotubes run the length of the blades, a dark stony gray, which connect to pressurized stores of DKNTN, or denten, in the Kai2.

Denten is proof Black Tiger has learned a lot from the carcasses thrown their way. No one that anyone knows of, so far, has been able to create a Kaiju poison which isn't simultaneously environmentally damaging or extremely hazardous to humans. It's not exactly number one on the list, either, to develop such a thing, when you could spend millions on every nuclear glob of energy from a Jaeger's caster and create a crowd of oohing and ahhing people desperate for related merchandise. Even though that's how things  _used_ to be, and definitely not how they are now, change is hard and the current system isn't really broke, so what's to fix?

The underwater environment buffets them occasionally; once, there is a bright  _bang_ of a pulse through the waves. The Rangers regain their footing and reach the conclusion that must be the Eden Assassin's Plasmacaster. They wait. Impatiently. They ask Mari if she knows what Jaegers are up ahead. No, she doesn't. But there are five Kaiju.

-  _Can you call them?_ from Katsuki.

 _\- You don't think I'm trying?_ from Plisetsky.

And all of a sudden, there comes a Raiju snaking towards them, easily discernable through the hub's enhanced vision technology. In its ugly, frilled tripartite jaws it's dragging -  _what, who the fuck is in that Jaeger? It's the Gipsy Danger, I would recognize that arc reactor anywhere - yeah, but who's in it_ \- so Plisetsky, in agreement with Katsuki, bound themselves up with the jet, blades out to medium length, curl and stab-land into the Raiju's haunches, thin blades deftly angling between its thick plates, twisting it into a yaw. (These soft spots provided by extensive intel and data the Black Tiger's collected on Kaiju.) The Gipsy struggles herself free, looking stunned.

Now that the Kai2 is next to a Jaeger, it's clear that it's maybe twenty feet shorter, but oh so much faster, matching the Raiju. The Kai2 maneuvers itself under the Raiju, screaming and thrashing, avoiding the thick tail. Together its pilots jet upwards, equipped with engines on its back and legs. To the surface they go, needle of light growing larger and brighter.

Breaking the surface, the Kai2 frees the Raiju momentarily. The beast vaults back and snaps at the new attacker, but easily the Kai2 whirls out of reach.

Snake-like, the Raiju eyes the mech before it.

The Kai2 clenches its fists around its weapon handles. A harsh  _swish_ as the nanotubes circulate with ready poison. A  _click-pop_ as the captures, simple curved containers filled with the standard-issue material used for soaking Kaiju Blue, as well as a Mari-Katsuki-designed chemical for keeping it fresh, flip open and sit ready along the Kai2's forearms.

The alien and its metal copycat charge at each other.

Kai2 dodges and boosts down, back up, blades into the Raiju's throat. Quickly the DKNTN enters the Kaiju's system. Some yelling from Mari over the comms. Soon the Kai2 Rangers understand it's a success, the creature's in its death throes: so they finish off the plan. Turning the creature over, they slice it open by its underbelly and let loose a flooding spray of blue-contaminated alien fluids, open the captures to the material.

"Say when we have enough!" Katsuki yells through his comm; they struggle to hold the dying creature up as its drags their blades down by its bodyweight and yet protect the captures, keep them close enough at the same time. The adsorbing material layers in the captures begin to cloud just a shade darker.

The Gipsy breaks crest of the waves 150 meters away just as Mari shouts, "You're good! You're good!" and the readout on the helm overlay inkily notifies them of automated agreement.

So they turn tail, with a final glance at the Gipsy; two new faces, unsure of each other. Seal for submersion, and jet back the way they came.

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A burst of celebration has been long and badly needed at the Hong Kong shatterdome.

Mila and Sara, like veterans, confidently meet the praise and joviality that awaits them.

Altin's silent as usual, but reads calm. Emil goes around shaking anyone's and everyone's hand.

Georgi and Anya receive a lot of attention, fresh off their first mission. They must take credit for a kill themselves. When Anya shakes her thick, dark hair free from the braid in her helmet there's a smile on her full red lips. Georgi - who had sparred with Yurio not much earlier in the year - looks like a deer in the headlights, but a happy deer.

Guang-Hong and Leo, on the other hand, nod and take minimal congratulations from their (new) fellow Rangers and urgently walk outwards from the whooping, cheering crowd. They quickly approach the Marshal, making his way from the back of the gathering.

"Did you check the playback?" Guang-Hong immediately asks. "May I?"

"We're already processing it," the Marshal says. "The data has been passed up. Intelligence is already working on it."

Guang-Hong nods.

"Good. It certainly didn't behave as a threat. I'm interested to see whose it is," Leo says. He grins and slaps an arm around his diminutive copilot's shoulders. "Ha ha! That was excellent!"

Guang-Hong smiles sheepishly. "You're very excited," he says, with that signature tagging laugh of his.

"Well, I know now watching people go out on  _my_ advice is a much different affair than myself going out on my own advice," Leo says. "Hm, where do we go to get these off?" He looks down at his drivesuit, black and gleaming with fine hexagon mesh print.

"Oh, oh, this way," Guang-Hong says, pointing the direction.

"I'd bet anything it was Yuri Plisetsky in that faux-Jaeger," Leo says as they head off. They skirt the edges of the crowd. People give them glances which hold when they hear strains of the conversation.

"Our Yuri Plisetsky?"

"The Marshal hasn't said anything about where he went. Think about it. Whoever is running this thing obviously has access to extensive resources."

"Ahh," Guang-Hong says contemplatively. "It certainly did not seem like someone without experience was piloting it."

Leo nods briskly. "It could be a dressed-up bribe. Unhappy as he was here, perhaps this seemed a better option."

"Whoever this is . . . maybe they have their own training school. He would still need a copilot."

"Yes, yes, that."

"If they have enough people to provide one copilot, would not they train two?"

The speculation goes back and forth until they enter the drivesuit rooms.

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Yuuri's just a blur that heads straight back to Viktor's room after landing back at the Institute, then tags along with all the carts and people and machinery his sister is herding through the halls. He pauses often but never stays still, all else apparently forgotten.

At last he settles outside the wraparound window, prisoner from the outside. White-coats and blue-scrubs prepare to enter with their equipment. Mari pulls on all the necessary dress, ordering, pointing, turning dials, checking readouts. She's not trained in medicine, but this case heavily relies on her knowledge of Kaiju blue and her planned procedure according to previous research.

Finally they open the door and break the quiet, sleepy isolation of Viktor's room, at 9 days, 18 hours, 5 minutes since he was put into the coma.

Mari's the last to enter; her gaze connects with Yuuri's. Something passes between the siblings you can't put into words. Mari Katsuki straightens up, salutes her brother, then slips her mask on and enters. Closes the door behind her.

Yuuri's gaze settles on Viktor's black-stained cheeks, moves jerkily up and down the breathing tube, the needles taped in his hand and arm, the machines by his side.


	43. Waking Up

"Did it work? When can I see him?"

Three hours later, the room's almost as it was when the medical team entered. Viktor's hooked up to three fewer machines. The breathing tube is out, most importantly.

Mari's eyes are half-lidded. Her hair has reached the very pinnacle of messy. She fumbles with turning her gloves out and putting them in the garbage can. Everyone working with her streams by and out, transferring equipment to storage.

There's a pause before she musters a half-smile. "It's  _my_ thesis project. 'Course it worked."

Yuuri wraps his arms around his sister and positively squishes her. The breath  _puffs_ out of her.

"Dude-" she squeaks as he holds her and then lets her go. There are tears (of relief, most likely) shining in Yuuri's eyes.

" _Oh,_ " is all Yuuri says, like a load slides off him, he looks up at the roof, hands pushing back through his hair.

"I don't know enough about human brains etcetera to tell if he'll be 100% when he wakes up," Mari cautions. "People are working on that now."

"But he'll wake up. No brain damage?"

"I don't  _think_ so," Mari says, cautiously, holding her hands out in a  _halt_ motion. "They're taking him off the respirator, everything looks fine. You should sleep and hopefully talk to him in three days."

"What time on the third day?"

Mari starts heading off to the cafeteria area sluggishly, her brother continuining to pepper her with questions.

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The Jaeger program, then the entire PPDC, then the UN panel, then the UN itself is thrown for a panicked loop once news of this intervening alt-Jaeger climbs up the chain. Someone leaks the footage. Youtube goes crazy with theory videos. Gifs and clips populate Facebook feeds. Until now, on TV, world events have been dominated by the accumulating crisis around the Pacific Rim due to the last major tsunami and now a new wave of quakes and a smaller tsunami that landed last evening. Now, breaking news is the alt-Jaeger.

The most important question: whose is it?

That evening, major news agencies receive a simultaneous release.

A woman whom time has graced with elegance glares at the camera with green eyes, gold earring, long dark brown hair hanging loose, grey strands shining against a warm indoors background, mahogany and carvings, red and gold.

She states facts quickly and surely.

"The tsunami which has caused over 45000 deaths so far was a result of a failed attempt by the Jaeger program to close the Breach."

"Neither the Wall nor PPDC offensives have proved effective in keeping our shores safe from alien threats." The 't' and 's' sounds are sharp and accusatory.

"They have neither made available to those who live in danger every day the harvested benefits of alien life. Instead, the PPDC hordes secrets it is too foolish to implement advantagiously, at the expense of someone else's friends and family."

"There was a time we could look to this system for aid. We still have that choice."

"I invite you to choose for yourself. Watch and decide as we, Black Tiger, create an alternative. You have seen our Kai2 already in action. Efficient and effective, they cost half of a Jaeger's pricetag, are fully equipped to harvest useful material from Kaiju, and can be piloted solo."

"I hope the Jaeger program reconsiders its outdated, irresponsible and ineffective approach to defending humanity. In the meantime, Black Tiger can, and will, surpass."

The message is aired nearly instantly.

Commentary springs up like flame to dry kindling.

The globe ignites.

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The Kai2 pilots pass each other in the hallway, Katsuki going to sleep, Plisetsky going to see Celestino.

Plisetsky gives Katsuki the chin lift in greeting. "Viktor's awake yet?"

"Not yet. Tomorrow."

"You have a trick to taking more of the neural load?"

Katsuki shakes his head. "I don't know! Sort of a more recent talent."

"Pfff. I fucking need that."

"Why?"

Plisetsky waves his phone.

"You didn't look at a screen yet? Footage the Gipsy Danger must have got of us leaked."

"Yes, I saw that."

"And then Lilia sent a global message taking claim for that. Just a half hour ago."

"What? It had  _us_ in it?"

"Nah. She just said the Jaeger program sucks balls, basically, and that Black Tiger is some super fucking great alternative, oh, and that the Kai2s can fly  _SOLO,_ " Plisetsky explains.

"What?! Mari hasn't got that figured out-"

"Exactly! I have some bullshit thing with that Celestino guy but I heard she's landed, I'm going to talk to her. She's not that crazy. But she better have something up her sleeve. I'm not going solo. I didn't come here to get my fucking brains blown out through my nose."

Plisetsky storms off.

Katsuki returns to his room. All he's done with the waiting time besides sit by Viktor's bedside (and get kicked out) is toss in his bed, drop things due to shakes and feel generally nauseous because of withdrawal symptoms - at least his family in Hasetsu is safe. Japan's Wall segment is probably the best of the whole expansive defense.

There's not much to a waiting game. It's the simplest you can play. But everyone's always the loser to time.

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Yuri Plisetsky might be feeling worse than he admits, despite the upstairs, private room his grandmother's given him, despite the seeming deference he's starting to receive by those who work at the Institute, despite the mission success, despite his good health and youth. Despite his overall position now, that he's switched sides.

He's on his bed, door closed and locked, hips slanted up, hand around his cock, sliding hard,  _up and down up and down -_ he groans a name, it's -  _Otabek -_

\- who is, miles away, in his own room, mirroring the same, reflecting back.

So it's all trapped, you see, in this two-stop cycle.

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It happens in a bare instant, when Yuuri's wandering by the strip of windows in the cafeteria area, dull afternoon of waiting, that Viktor knows he's there and therefore Yuuri knows Viktor's there. They know they're back.

So Yuuri's alive. It's just a bonus that Viktor is, too, he thinks.

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Breathlessly, Yuuri sprints in the direction which strengthens the ghost between them.

He bursts in the room. Viktor's his chest rises and falls peacefully; for hours Yuuri's watched this exact scene, sat guard at this peaceful island, lonely himself.

But now he takes Viktor's hand, the one without a needle taped in it, in his. They come back together, rise up in the ghosting.

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Viktor gets this initial impression from Yuuri: Yuuri knows he owes Mari one, but you know, not really, because she's his sister and that's what she does.

That's all that flitters through in the brief moment while Viktor opens his eyes.

Viktor senses when Yuuri's heart does an aching swing inside him, when Yuuri's soft gaze meets his and he looks back. And you know, immediately there's a smile stretching across Viktor's dry lips.

He feels Yuuri's fingers and palm go to his cheek. They're very close right now. Viktor can see the clear outlines of the grayish reflections in Yuuri's glasses. He can see Yuuri's eyelashes (for a moment, then his eyes are too tired to hold focus). He thinks of himself, looking in the one-way window at the old Chukotka dome and how fucking  _awful_ that was - "I must look terrible," Viktor tries to say, but his voice won't work for now. He's still hazily coming back out of whatever he was in. He says it in the drift.

 _But you're awake,_ Yuuri tells him, touch still resting on his cheek.

Viktor is still very tired.

 _You'll stay here? I feel like sleeping,_ he says in ghost.

_Of course._

He sleeps again, but this time it's his choice to.

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He wakes up again, and it's much faster, the coming-to, and everything's a lot sharper. This is the waking-up where you try to bolt up out of bed and someone pins you down and you look frantically at them and realize, oh, ok, it's the love of your life, you'll listen, you'll lie back down.

Viktor does.

Now he tries to talk. Still can't. He makes a frustrated face. The ghost clicks into place just fast enough for the explanation from Yuuri:  _they put you in a coma, you had a breathing tube._

Shock at that. Then remembering what happened - fractured images, impressions and dark movie-like slips of memories -  _it's no surprise. How bad do I look? Did I ask that?_

 _You look . . . like the black's fading, like it's getting scrubbed away,_ and Yuuri brushes his fingers against Viktor's cheek again.

Amid all the things that are right again, there's something out of place. Viktor knows he should give it some time to come out of it. Induced coma and all that.

_How bad was the poisoning?_

_. . . Pretty bad, Yurio and I went and killed a Kaiju to get the antidote ._

_. . Reaaaally?_

_\- yes, Mari pulled out one of her old PhD theses._

_\- Yurio? but what about Otabek? -_

_\- You haven't asked where we are yet._

_\- Hospital. The main one PPDC uses on the Mainland._

_\- No, guess again._

Viktor moves to get up. In ghost, it's clear there's really no use stopping him, and Yuuri just helps him stand.

Viktor falters.  _Sorry, weaker than I thou -_ a burst of pain from his midsection from rising to a sitting position. He grimaces and steadies himself against Yuuri, continues to get up.

_\- Hmmm, the Australian facility?_

_\- No._

_\- Don't tell me they shipped me all the way to the US. They always-_

Yuuri cuts that complaint off -  _nope. Here's a hint: the PPDC didn't pick us up._

Viktor pauses as he's maneuvered himself with legs hanging over the side of the bed.  _What? Then -_ but they struggle Viktor up to standing before he can keep going.

Finally they're up. Weakly Viktor leans on Yuuri. He can't remember feeling this exhausted in his life, like all the energy's been drained out of him.

 _I don't know, tell me,_ Viktor says, closing his eyes, content to feel the warmth of his copilot chest-to-chest.

 _The Black Tiger picked us up._ And, before Viktor can freak out, Yuuri continues to explain the situation.

 _So Yakov didn't send anyone at all to look for us?_ Viktor probes.

Yuuri tells him what Yurio told Yuuri.

A sigh from Viktor in ghost.

_\- It makes sense. All our comms dead, not knowing where we are - decision straight out of the rulebook . . . I would still have sent out a search party sooner, though. I was out there long enough, the weather wasn't too awful. Yakov could have waited less time._

_\- Are you sure you'd have held off? What if I were in that Jaeger?_

A long, slow, laugh floats through their shared mindspace. Because both of them know the answer.

"By the way, you're a true idiot," Yuuri says out loud.

"What the hell is going on here?!" suddenly bursts from someone in the doorframe who's been there longer than Viktor's aware. Both jerk up in surprise; Viktor's body gives way under him and Yuuri catches him, not too awkwardly, thankfully, puts Viktor's arm around his shoulder.

It's Mari.

"Are you guys  _ghosting_ again? 'Cause it sounds super weird. It looks super weird. You're just, like, looking at each other and doing stuff. Without talking." Mari jabs a finger at them. "I wouldn't believe you could actually do it if I wasn't seeing this weirdness with my own eyes."

Viktor tries to say, "I hear you saved me," but croaks and assigns the task to Yuuri, who communicates as much.

Viktor sees a blush - a blush?! he should put himself in life-threatening situations more often - on Mari's cheeks, though in the same moment he can't help but notice the dark circles under her eyes.

"Oh, well, least I could do," she says with a shrug. "Ehhh . . . I was gonna come in and do tests. I need some stuff. You have a couple minutes. Catch up. Whatever. Don't take the drip out. Welcome back, Viktor." Mari leaves.

Yuuri tells Viktor more about their situation. -  _Mari's enjoying it, but since the broadcast Lilia made, I think we're all wondering if Lilia's planning to keep her venture here purely scientific. . . . I don't know if it will turn nasty. Still, you couldn't tempt Mari out of here with any other job opportunity in the world. She's working on solo drift._

_Want to sit back down?_

_\- Yes. I do._

They sit back down.

 _What's this about me being an idiot?_ Viktor asks. The ghost is looser than the drift. It allows conversation instead of a full-on overlap, an instant knowing. The drift is amazing, but this is also good.

 _\- I was unresponsive. You were still awake, I was dead weight, you should have kept the antiblue all to yourself. Did you lose one? I don't remember what happened in there,_ Yuuri says,  _not exactly._

_\- No, one shot was broken. Only had five. I think I gave us both one somewhere still in the ocean . . . once we landed . . . then when we got to the shatterdome -_

_\- You gave the last one to me._

_. . . Of course I did._

_\- See, you're not supposed to do that._

Viktor frowns. How to explain this? Well, it's simple:  _I can't live without you, Yuuri,_ he says, it's lone and strong in ghost, he looks into Yuuri's eyes.

Yuuri's mouth parts halfway like he wants to say something. Viktor anticipates - and then Mari bursts back in. The Rangers both look at her, instead of each other.

There's something to continue later.

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Viktor feels the relief and joy from Yuuri when Mari sounds the all-clear: Viktor's perfectly fine, except for lingering wounds which should heal up, mild frostbite, and the skin staining. He's also lost weight, can barely stand out of pure exhaustion, still on a drip of benzodiazepines, and can definitely  _not_ pilot at the moment, but, perfectly fine all things considered.

The thing is, he waits a few hours which turns into several hours to see if this one thing will go away, but it doesn't. And the more it doesn't go away, the more it  _is,_ and annoyingly so, and it's a little puzzle he's trying to figure out.

The reflections in Yuuri's glasses are gray when he leans in close. Yuuri's eyes were so brown, weren't they? But - when he looks at Yuuri - him and his backdrop seem to fade out of color, and go blurry in splotches, no matter how hard he squints. His eyes strive to focus but they won't, and it's terrible. But he'll look around and the rest of his surroundings are crystal clear and colorful as ever.

And then it'll change, of a sudden, some things are now the frustratingly desaturated jumpy blur, and some other things aren't. But it all seems to center around Yuuri, like he's in some sort of reverse spotlight.

When Yuuri leaves the room finally after three hours, testing finished, Viktor's entire field of vision regresses to that impaired state.

To which he has only this thought:  _what the fuck?!_

When Yuuri returns, Viktor wants  _so hard_ for the problem to resolve, but  _no, again_ he's relatively unclear and what's behind him is relatively unclear and some of the ceiling and sort of like he's standing in a box and  _why can't I see you properly?_ Viktor thinks frustratedly, and passionately enough it goes ghosting to Yuuri.

Viktor points at where he can't see or can; the second Yuuri looks to where he gestures everything changes; Viktor pauses mid-point and has an epiphany.

 _No, no, I do have vision problems. Mari tested me but you were there to talk for me. You were looking at the chart. I can see clearly only what you're looking it._ It's plain as day! Fuck! It's the ghost! He's looking through Yuuri's eyes. Somehow he's automatically piggybacked on Yuuri's vision. Immediately he wants to demand a mirror, but Yuuri's questioning him in ghost.

They don't really know much about ghosting, but between the two of them, they figure it out, they feel it out, yes, Viktor's right; just to double-check, Yuuri leaves and stretches the ghost thin till it snaps and sure enough, Viktor's half-blind.

 _Well, it's not as bad as it could be,_ Viktor concludes as they sit together, mulling this complication over.

_That really sucks, though._

Viktor squints at Yuuri.  _I mean, I can still tell it's you and there's your face and arms and so on._

They sit for awhile. No one picks up  _that_ conversation. More like, Yuuri doesn't pick it up. It's so obviously his.

"We need to really talk. Really. There's a little hall up on the top floor with just storage and locked rooms," Yuuri says out loud.

Viktor tries to speak out loud, throat gives out on him, goes in ghost instead:  _How am I going to get up there?_

He sees Yuuri give him a solid, honest, investigative look. A sigh rumbles through the ghost between them.

-  _I don't like to see you in this poor condition,_ from Yuuri.

_\- I am pretty tired._

Yuuri helps Viktor lie back down.

Minutes later, they're resting together, Yuuri half-lying on the bed, one arm behind Viktor's pillow, the other loosely stretched down the sheets where Viktor's hand lies on his.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

_I get a bit more sleep now. Lilia landed here and asked me why we left the Raiju carcass there. Well, I said, it's in the ocean, it's the PPDC agreement? But she reminded me the treaty's off now. Oh, and also insinuated I should just take it regardless. What good would they do with it? . . . She's got a point. If I create a succesful solo drift, it will the next big leap forward in technology. And the thing is, it might happen, because everyone here is on board._

_It's a lot different. It's so different than the shatterdome. My leadership skills aren't so hot, but I'm pretty good at communicating and everything's working so far. Safety protocol is interesting. There are a handful of in-charge people who don't have any posters or codes on the wall, but people come in to do what they're supposed to and they'll just get kicked out of they're wearing or doing or holding something inappropriate. There are so many different fields of view here, too, people from all kinds of backgrounds. And the equipment is great. They're already building another Kai2. Wow, stuff gets done fast around here._

_Only thing I'm still nervous about is what Viktor and Yuuri will do, now that Viktor's awake. Will they go back to the PPDC? I hope not. I mean, they owe the Black Tiger a big one._

_And Viktor didn't get out of it scot-free, either. Luckily we don't have any frontal lobe damage. But he's got vision problems now that no eye surgery could fix; the issue is in his brain. Thankfully, he can see fine when my brother's around and they do their creepy but also cool  ghosting thing._

_And I guess Lilia's plan for the Kai2s sounds fine. Taking over harvesting completely? I hope she can negotiate something new with the PPDC. I'm sure that's in the works. With the breach expanded, and the Jaeger program how it is, I could see the UN possibly signing us on to help out. The phrasing of her release that's all over the news is really, uh, how to say it . . . like, confrontational? Yeah, that's it. But she's smart. Using shock value to draw attention. To fund all this cool stuff I get to do here._

_Mari out for now. I can catch some sleep and not feel as guilty about it now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you tell my hands are BURNING trying to get this written by end of July  
> ok I admit. It's not gonna happen. I'm hoping HOPING for first week of August. If so you might get like a couple 7K word chapters at the end im sorry IM TRYING. Anyways thanks for your continued support


	44. On Top of Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> episode 10

 

 

 

The hallway is narrow, boring barely-lived-in rooms along one side, tinted windows paneling the other wall of the Institute. Floors are clean; air is quiet, new to the touch of visitors still. This view overlooks some of the parking lot, a bit of the cargo area; across the expanse, there are faint mountains just starting to lighten with the yet-far warmth of the sunrise. At 4 a.m. the sky still hangs darkly with the brightness of Yakutsk in the far distance. There's the moon. Snow sparkles down.

Yuuri looking at the scene affords Viktor the same vision.

The minute Viktor had the drip taken out, Yuuri was there, and they started heading upstairs, receiving a plethora of looks from everyone they passed; lucky it's not peak hours.

Viktor leans on Yuuri and they reach the middle of the hall and stop and look out. He's in the same sort of thing Yuuri was when he was still on bedrest, the dark loose scrub-like kind of outfit.

"Why did you really come get me off the Wall, Viktor? Why did you want to become my copilot?" Yuuri asks.

After a fashion, Viktor can talk; hoarsely in his lowest register.

"You asked me to," he says.

"--I never did," Yuuri says, sounding confused.

"You don't remember," Viktor says surely.

"Hm?"

Viktor enjoys feeling Yuuri breathe close to him like this. Calm. "Well, it was when we were at the Alaska 'dome. A night and day before you ran off. A week nearly since the Knifehead incident, when you were up and walking again." Viktor's voice cracks roughly and breaks down, so he continues in ghost.

_You went missing. We were busy, well, at least, we thought we were in that context, trying to figure out what went wrong with the tracking equipment, deciding what to do with the Tango, and there was the press swarming at us and another event on the horizon to boot._

_Everyone was pretty worried about you. Understandably. You're the only one - one of the only ones - to withstand solo drift, and we were sure there was more wrong than just surface wounds._

_\- Wait, one of the only ones?_ Yuuri interrupts.

-  _Yakov flew solo briefly. Same kind of circumstance, Nikolai was knocked out completely._

_\- Oh, right. I remember learning that. Keep going._

_\- But at the same time, everyone also wanted to give you space. Including me. But I had your phone tracked 24/7. I didn't want you going missing. You didn't exactly go missing, but your tracker started moving off base just as Yakov was going into a conference with me. Mila and Sara at the Hong Kong dome in preparation, other pilots busy or just not right for the job - it came down to the idea that I should answer a few questions and then head off to check on you. I was going to tell Mari, but I decided against it in case . . . you know, something had happened._

_I got in and it was a pretty cold night. City isn't too big, right, but you were indoors somewhere, and it took me a while to find the place, and then it was anyone's guess where you were inside. I pulled my toque down, scarf up, but it was a hotel bar and restaurant/lounge. That late at night, no one was really paying attention to anyone. It was full and noisy and the sort of place I didn't think you'd go. I started to wonder whether the tracker data was right._

_\- I know I got drunk that night. Sort of on purpose,_ Yuuri interrupts.  _But I don't remember_ you  _being the one to find me. I thought maybe I got myself back, or a PPDC unit._ There's a tinge of embarrassment.

-  _It wasn't easy because I was looking for the wrong thing. I thought you'd be hiding somewhere, but you were sort of obvious, once I wisened up. I didn't know, I'd never seen you drunk before, I thought you'd be a sad drunk maybe._

Yuuri laughs.

_I learned you're more of a . . . playful drunk,_ Viktor concludes.

_\- That's why I never get drunk,_ Yuuri says.  _. . . It wasn't bad, was it? It wasn't bad?_ a little nervously.  _I didn't know it was_ you  _who came to get me - I didn't remember -_

_\- Oh, it was_ very  _bad._ The feeling of that pronounciation of 'bad' gives a hint.  _You were half-naked, red in the face, upside down on a pole._

"Oh -!" Yuuri exclaims, and Viktor damns his vision because from the ghost he  _knows_  Yuuri is flushing hard, but at least what he can see is Yuuri putting his hands up to his face in the  _most adorable_ gesture of embarrassment. "I didn't - Well - you see - I didn't-"

-  _I could see the muscles in your arms and legs, you swung around the pole, I was as red as you,_ Viktor says frankly.  _It was very bad._

Yuuri seems to have recovered a little. He lowers his hands enough that he can at least see, and in sync, matching parts of Viktor's vision clarify.

-  _Did you watch for long?_ Yuuri asks. This surprises Viktor. Forward question.

_\- Longer than I'll admit . . . Do you want to know what else happened?_

_\- I do._

-  _You held on with only your legs, then only your hands. Your shirt was falling off, you were only in short shorts, I'm sure there was more than just me stating . . . But I  remembered what I was there for when I saw the glint of your glasses on the floor, so I pushed through all the bodies and somehow picked up the glasses and you saw me and I managed to hustle you out without making a scene and you could barely walk a straight line. I don't know how you were pole dancing and then the next second staggering around crazily, falling on me. I could tell you'd had much too much to drink._

Viktor pauses. Talking in ghost is a cocktail of words and memories flooding out at the same time.

_I decided not to go back until you had a hold of yourself, for your own good. I let Yakov know I'd found you, then I got us a room and you some clothes and waited until laughing turned to hiccups and slightly-less-drunk tears._

_I thought I should package you up ASAP and try to get you back, but you clung to me and cried. You sobbed like a child. It was terrible. Of course I knew what it was about. No one comes out of what you experienced with only flesh wounds. I could understand half of what you said, some of it was in Japanese and you were just a drunk, heartbroken mess, from what I could see. But I was rewarded for being a human tissue eventually. I think. I don't know, I think I want it to be true so much that I might have just heard things. But you stopped trying to talk for awhile and just did those jerky stop-cries, right? And then you looked at me, I'm sure, and said - well, slurred - something about your head being too empty and then you - well, what I heard was:_ be my copilot, Viktor.

_Of course, the reality was that your blood alcohol content was off the charts, you were fresh off someone dying in your head and probably the majority of everything you told me was just inebriated exaggerations and conjectures._

_Still, that night I felt human. Even as I wrapped you up, still crying, quieter, and we caught a helicopter back to the shatterdome, and I looked behind at you and you were sleeping, and I carried you down to your bunker - it wasn't easy, you're heavy - and put Makkachin in to sleep with you for a good part of the night._

_I've been chasing that feeling since. And I never really convinced myself that line I heard was one hundred percent the alcohol and trauma speaking. It stayed with me. I figured out eventually why I couldn't let go of it. I fell in love, Yuuri. I fell in love that night._

_But I don't know if I've been doing anything right since._

And that's the story.

They stand quietly together in front of the lightening night sky.

"If you can't love me back, I'll still love you," Viktor says roughly, looking down.

"You've been in my head," Yuuri admonishes. Viktor doesn't know what to say.  _I'm certain, but I don't want to push you?_  Then Yuuri's voice breaks when he says, "Did you really not know? I tried to tell you. In the drift. I tried to show you. I was so worried, Viktor. That you didn't understand it - that you didn't know - I wouldn't get to tell you -  _of course I l--love you--_ " Yuuri squeaks.

Viktor raises his gaze up. He can't believe his ears, and his damned vision: "Are you crying?"

Yuuri wipes the bottom of his eyes. He seems to waver on the edge for a moment, then he goes up his tiptoes, pulls Viktor to him, and kisses him.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

As they walk back slowly, in the afterglow, Viktor feels like there's still something missing. Of course. Makkachin! - but really, he must resign himself to just hoping someone takes care of the poodle. He's sure someone will. Maybe Mila, she likes the dog.

Yuuri tells Viktor more about the mission in the Kai2. Viktor's surprised to hear the drift between the two Yuris wasn't a thrown-together, barely-held-up connection. No, Yuuri says they're where they should have been as copilots from the start, in the Jaeger program.

-  _You opened up to him, then,_ Viktor says.

-  _It was much better than when I dumped it all on you._

_\- Good, ha ha. And Yurio?_

_\- I know a lot more about him._ Yuuri sounds pensive in ghost.  _He hasn't told many other people. If any others._

_\- Oh._

They wait, together, while Viktor's sure Yuuri sifts through what to tell and what not. He'll be happy with whatever he gets.

-  _I think you'll understand him better if I tell you some,_ Yuuri says.  _He knows he's not the most well-behaved. He's more self-aware than he lets on._

_\- Hm._

_\- He was enrolled in the Academy because no one else really wanted to care for him, especially after his mother was put in an institution._

_\- Sofya Satina? Yes, that was all over the news when it happened. . . I suppose Yakov was too busy being Marshal._

_\- And maybe tied to an oath. Apparently Nikolai told Yakov on his deathbed that he didn't want Yurio to pilot._

_\- And end up like him, understandably._

_\- Yes. But Sofya was always at work. She didn't have time for Yurio. And Sofya married for money, I guess. Came back to the man she'd had Yurio with; he'd gotten rich; Pyotr Plisetsky. But he turned out . . . He abused Yurio. And eventually Sofya._

_\- . . . What? How bad was it?_

_\- Bad enough that Lilia stepped in and basically forced Yakov to put Yurio in the Academy, seeing home life was not an option._

_\- Wait, Lilia?_

_\- Lilia, leader of Black Tiger, and Yurio's grandmother._

_\- . . . What? How do I not know this?_

_\- I guess no one told you._ Yuuri's smiling softly next to Viktor.

-  _So his one grandparent is head of the mafia. His almost-other-grandparent is head of the PPDC._

_\- Exactly. But . . . despite all this . . . I don't think he's ever had real family._

"Wow," Viktor says out loud; they've returned to his room at last. "So why is he here?"

Yuuri tells him what he knows.

-  _Frankly I'm embarrassed to talk to Yurio,_ Viktor concludes.  _I haven't thought the best of him. I'm sure he hasn't thought the best of me. But I do owe him my life, next to you._

_\- Remember, we saved the Phoenix before diving into the Breach. I think he knows he's indebted to you as well._

Viktor sits back down on the bed.  _True._ Yuuri sits with him. Shoulder-to-shoulder, Viktor feels Yuuri tremoring and asks him why.

- _I can't take my medications because of the anti-blue. I get this and nausea. And anxiety as usual._

_\- I'm sorry._ Viktor leans his head on Yuuri's shoulder.

-  _It's not bad,_ Yuuri says absently.

Viktor feels his breathing settle, in his chest, deeper than it has for ever so long. There's a whirlpool at the back of his mind that stills and sinks to satisfaction. Because Yuuri loves him back. The world's complete, even if it is breaking apart.

"We should go see my parents sooner than later," Yuuri says. Somehow Viktor's lying down now and Yuuri is doing the half-on-the-bed, half-on-the-chair sort of thing, hands tangled together.

"Mm," Viktor agrees, and he falls asleep.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Viktor admits he feels a tinge of shame for being how he is when, of all people, and well-dressed at that, Chris enters the room where they're making him walk around under supervision. (Yuuri's gone off for pilot duties, swearing to Viktor he  _has_ to see the Kai2 as soon as possible. Therefore, Viktor can't see very well. But he can't mistake Chris. He knows the walk, the blurry desaturated face is still his, and of course, the voice is all Chris.)

"What-?!" Viktor exclaims with a laugh despite himself, because under the normal sort of grey long-sleeve and loose pants he can feel his own unsteadiness. Chris puts an arm around Viktor's shoulder.

"You really went and messed yourself up this time," Chris says.

"It's not that bad. I can't see very well, but it could have been worse." Viktor notices how Chris doesn't put much weight on him, treats him carefully but lightly.

"You say," Chris tags. "You walked a broken Jaeger back to shore through a tsunami and dragged your copilot across tundra to shelter, all while injured and a nice cocktail of Kaiju blue swimming in your blood."

"He was in the drift with me," Viktor says. That's really the explanation. "I wasn't alone."

"Still, I'm impressed. I am."

"So what are you doing here?"

Chris feints off to the side. "You know, making bank, having fun. Lots of travel opportunities with this position. Picked up your call when I was meeting with Italy's Prime Minister. And spending a couple beach days with girls and boys, like I said. I was honest, promise."

Viktor snorts. "So you're top-tier in Black Tiger?"

"Pretty much. I've done quite well." Chris fiddles with his tie. Viktor can tell there are illustrations along it, and he'll bet anything they're roses. "But, you know, I do miss piloting. I'd like to try out the Kai2s. Now that they're in production."

"You're rolling them out now?"

"Well, it's all hush-hush, but yes, we will certainly go ahead with building two additional units. They're already in progress."

"And they'll be solo piloted?"

"Oh, in theory! But I won't get into a machine like that. No."

"Then you'll need a copilot. Met anyone within Black Tiger? Do they have a training school?"

"Oh no no, nothing of the sort. Remember, they couldn't build a drift till Mari came over."

Viktor muses on this. The overall situation, too. Nothing will ever be  _like old times,_ again, they're too different now. But maybe that's for the best.

"It's been a few years, Chris. How about Suire?"

Chris laughs in an outrageous style. "You think?!"

"Time heals wounds," Viktor proclaims, like he knows all, and then breaks down laughing too, even though it hurts his midsection.

"He was just one uptight, jealous bitch," Chris says offhandedly. "I can never understand how a one-night stand could put someone off that much, like, it's not,  _a thing,_ you know?"

"Chris, you  _hurt_ me," Viktor feigns. Chris guffaws.

"I apologize, darling. It was an amazing accidental fuck. But I'm sure you've topped the experience since with your copilot. Pun intended."

Viktor  _knows_ Chris has got his lashes half-down in that coy gaze of his.

"We've barely done  _anything,"_ Viktor sputters.

"Oh,  _god,_ you're  _so slow,_ darling."

"It's better that way," Viktor says, surprising himself at this statement.

Chris looks at his watch. "Only have so much time for catching up. There's a lot to do now. Negotiations are coming in from PPDC. We'll see what happens, and then I may have to do some flying around."

"Fly to Suire and get him back."

Chris scoffs again.

"Every pair who's ever been drift compatible - it's always right in some way. There's always a conclusion if things go wrong," Viktor notes.

"So eloquent," Chris comments.

"Look at Yuuri and Yurio."

Chris purses his lips.

"Go to your meeting. I've got high-stakes walking to do here," Viktor says, pushing Chris away, mustering the energy he has.

He's sure Chris grins at him as he exits.

"Good seeing you alive and getting well, Vik," Chris says as a goodbye. "I knew we'd always end up together, you and I!" - much too dramatically.

Viktor can't help a lingering half-grin as he continues the dull therapy assigned to his recovery.

iiiiiiiiiiii

In several days, Viktor is well enough to go around on his own. Not that he really wants to. One of the first things he's done is talk to Yurio. It wasn't much in the way of conversation, but they shook hands and now a lot of times it will be the three eating together, Viktor, Yuuri and Yurio. Sure enough, Yurio's still a pissy 19-year-old, but Viktor respects him more, and it seems the feeling is mutual.

The environment is interesting. Oh, everyone they pass knows exactly who Viktor is. Some people come up to him and ask him what he's doing here. Honestly, he's trying to figure that out, but the answer he has is that the PPDC wouldn't take him. And privately, he's asking himself if he'll return. There's a million factors in that decision and most of them are tied to Black Tiger and what they're actually about and what they want from him; but the thing that stands out to him most is the fact that he really can't pilot, but he wants to, but he needs rehab and a Jaeger (or something else) waiting for him when he's ready.

He discusses this with Yuuri. Yuuri says as far as he's concerned he's not officially affiliated with Black Tiger, but Mari's here and his life as a pilot is here, so why would he return? He's sure Yakov doesn't mind him gone anyways.

Viktor's out of the ICU now. He takes a bed in Yuuri's room. They push them together. Yuuri says he sleeps better when Viktor's close, and it seems to be true; he doesn't wake up screaming, and he doesn't have to take pills to sleep either. In this time, they grow to overlap. The ghost is a common companion. They hold each other close. Sometimes Viktor kisses Yuuri good morning. Sometimes Yuuri kisses Viktor goodnight. Not that they need to. It's just extra, on the top of everthing they already have.

They go to see the Kai2. Viktor is suitably impressed and impatient with himself for not healing fast enough, because he does want to try the thing.

They try to work out a way to send a message to, oh, Mila and Sara, to say they're not dead, (as is speculation worldwide, natural conclusion from circumstances they were last seen in), but they can't figure out what to say. And they're not allowed to make that sort of call while they're physically located  _at_ the Institute, and no postage goes out, so it's a bit of a problem, anyways.

But what does Black Tiger want from  _him?_ That's something Viktor can't figure out. Mari's already said she agreed to come only if they picked him and Yuuri up in the Tango, but also that Lilia readily agreed. So what could they want from him? He's not got a lot of special knowledge; not a lot of clout anymore that he's just a Ranger; he still has status, fame - well, that  _could_ be it, but that means Black Tiger has got ideas up their sleeves Viktor doesn't know about.

Maybe he will soon enough. He's summoned to go alone to speak with Lilia one afternoon. So he does.

_iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii_

"I regret that your stay with us is under these circumstances," Lilia says as Viktor enters and closes the door behind him. (He feels unassuming in his plain clothes, his vision just enough to find his chair and sit across the desk from the leader of Black Tiger. But there's a quiet confidence holding him up now.)

The room is well-lit, a window letting in cold spring light. The walls have been hung with thick, darkly-colored tapestries that make it seem closer and softer. There are still typical cabinets on one wall and some boxes in the corner; the desk is high-quality wood and contrasts the light grey gridded flooring.

Lilia herself is wearing a darkish (Viktor can't tell the color) dress with long sleeves. She's the woman replayed on almost every TV and smartphone and projection screen across the globe, for sure. In person, her gaze is less piercing, but her presence extends through the room.

"Well, they are certainly not the worst circumstances," Viktor says, getting comfortable in the chair, adjusting himself yet gingerly; his midsection and left shoulder still cause him pain. The chair might be antique. It has curled wood armrests. Lilia, on the other hand, is in a typical boardroom-type chair.

"I apologize for the decor. I'm just moving in here."

Viktor shakes his head. "No problem." His cheeks and neck and chest fade cleaner and cleaner every day, but the blue staining hasn't gone away completely yet. He knows he's lost weight; he can tell around his shoulders and chest; he hates eating more without really being able to lift anything heavy but they say he has to, so he tries not to make it a big deal. The contrast between himself and her is evident, but he's comfortable in his corner.

"I would like to know if you intend on returning to your position with the PPDC, and how soon," Lilia says. She has a hint of a Russian accent, but it's not too strong.

Viktor feels the wood of the armrests under his fingers. "I'm really not in condition to go anywhere soon. However, I don't believe the Marshal wants me back, and especially without the Jaeger I left in."

"Yakov and you are not on such good terms, then?"

"No."

"That is a shame." Lilia twirls something in her fingers and puts it back down on the desk. "I have an offer for you, Viktor Nikiforov."

"So I figured."

"Have you seen the Kai2s Mari Katsuki has helped us complete?"

"Yes."

"Since you are certainly a capable pilot, I would reserve a spot for you, once we have an available machine."

"What do I do for you in return?"

"Mmmm. Don't you think countries should know the truth of what they're supporting?"

"Sure. By the same coin, if I remain here, I should know the truth of what I'm supporting."

"Ah," Lilia says, as if entertained. "Clearly you know already Black Tiger is not some gang. We're heavily invested in developing new technologies and products based on Kaiju life. We have international connections. We consider human life as important as the PPDC does. We want to protect the Pacific Rim in a much more efficient way than the Jaeger program is doing, and even, has ever done. You've seen the news."

Viktor nods. Inside, his question is:  _how far are they willing to go?_ And most importantly:  _would they close the breach?_ But already, he knows the answer. All their profit is based on the Breach remaining open. So there's the catch. They have the resources and technology - and the scientist - necessary to close the Breach. To eliminate the threat forever. In Viktor's mind, that's still the number one goal. But it's the PPDC who would actually do it.

He doesn't ask any of these questions.

"It's no secret the Jaeger program is burnt out," he says, a touch of wryness. "What did you have in mind?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *frantic noises* I am VERY close to being done, maybe a week if I work really hard at it!!


	45. Rules

The wave of upheaval has in no way died out since the reveal of Black Tiger. The world waits apprehensively for the next Breach opening (read: what should follow) while political systems arrange their cards and make plans, while countries play hypothetically with their alliances and economies.

But another drop in the pond send another wave outward, and this is none other than a release of an interview on a certain channel in Russia, which quickly spreads.

(Black Tiger has people working near everywhere; money makes multiple inroads.)

The interviewer, the setting - it's all unremarkable. What a viewer is interested in is the easily-recognizable face of Viktor Nikiforov, former General of the Jaeger program. He has a generally favorable reputation the world over. But something is wrong. His cheeks show signs of blue poisoning. Most will correctly identify it as such. He seems worn, his voice a touch rough to those who know him, but he speaks with strength.

He tells the story of  _Operation Pitfall,_ a high-clearance PPDC effort to close the Breach. He tells how he and his copilot were sent straight into the throat, how they experienced the epicenter of the tsunamis. A long in-between where he was left on his own to rescue himself and his copilot. A story of how a new procedure was used to cure Kaiju blue poisoning. There's only one statement at the end to slant the otherwise unbiased story:  _Black Tiger is pushing scientific advancement, as it pertains to Kaiju and protecting ourselves from them, further than it's ever gone. I hope that the Jaeger program can do the same._

The short segment spreads quickly. It makes a most furious impact in the midst of the Hong Kong shatterdome. There's joy ( _he's alive_ ) confused with frustration ( _he's with Black Tiger?_ ) mixed with anger ( _we could have sent out a search party earlier!_ ) topped with uncertainty  _(what about Yuuri?!)_. But above all the personal issues, the challenge stands: The PPDC must outperform whatever Black Tiger has up their sleeves when the Breach next opens.

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 _So I turn around and they've got another Kai2 in progress. No joke. I asked the techs working and they said they have sites elsewhere where different parts are built; it's just all assembled here. And on top of that, they're hoisting the Tango up and taking the parts out, looks like they're revamping her completely. Beside that, there's the first Kai2, the red one. I'm supposed to be designing that one for solo drift. And then beside_ that,  _another one is in assembly stages. Whereas the first one is this dark crimson red, this one's a light orange red, it seems._

_Anyways, it's about midday. The three kids who do the diagnostics on Breach activity - kind of a sad story, actually, Celestino said both their parents were killed after almost direct exposure to airborne Kaiju blue, and a family member was part of Black Tiger, got them sponsored into university young, brilliant triple supposedly - say it's due to open soon. Still, not as accurate as Minako's data. I just got out of a meeting with Lilia and I have to go check up on Yuuri. He can start his meds again, soon. But he seems a lot better now, that he's with Viktor again._

_Want to hear about this meeting? You do. So I basically went and told Lilia, you know, thanks for all the support and stuff, but everyone agrees with me: testing a solo drift is impossible without heavy risk of damage to the pilot! We_ have  _got a prototype model that might work, had a breakthrough accidentally at 3 a.m. some days back. We cut as many links to the machine as we could to lessen the neural load, but it's still a significant risk, something like 172% of a normal drift._

_It's just impossible. Safe is two humans - everything's safe with two humans. Dangerous is a human and a Kaiju. Impossible is this: a lone human and a machine._

_I was kinda nervous, admittedly. But she took me seriously. She was like,_ ok then, that's not an option anymore.  _But Lilia showed me some drafts apparently she and Chris have created. I was like,_ you?!  _internally of course. Well, I guess she's got some smarts. She said she has a master's in electrical. Oh, ok._

"I knew there was a chance a solo drift was out of the question,"  _she told me as I looked at the designs. They were very scrappy. They were for a drivesuit, looked like._ "But we may have this option for one pilot specifically. For all purposes, it will be a solo drift."

_I figured out in a few minutes that it wasn't any plain old drivesuit. It was embedded with sort of limited one-way versions of the little reactors that power the Kai2s._

_"You'll have to explain this," I told Lilia. The designs were all very scratchy and conceptual._

_"I'm sure you know by now that my grandson has a very unique makeup."_

_"Of course," I was like,_ he slept in the Cherno's nuclear reactor for like a month, and he sleeps in your Kai2's reactor now most nights.

_"Chris and I are only two heads, and this is very rough, but I believe there's a physical instead of mental bridge we can create based on the fact that Yura has a Kaiju likeness imprinted throughout his body: the same likeness we used to design the Kai2's function," Lilia informed me._

_I just stared at the drafts in front of me._

_"Can I take these?" I blurted._

_And that's where I am now. Trying to wrap my mind around the suit. I'm going to talk to the A-team (oh yeah, we're division A apparently, everything to do with Kai2 design) and then pull Yurio out for some testing._

_This is so frickin cool! I'm having the time of my life I tell you. OK, Mari out._

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The media is filled with backlash against the PPDC after the broadcast of the interview with  _Viktor Nikiforov_. Accusations of abandoning their own. Questions of what the former General's opinion means. Funds begin to tighten, flowing more slowly even though, in the face of the coming Breach opening, the Jaeger program will need the money more than ever.

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Viktor and Yuuri stand with Mari at her desk of controls on a lower balcony. It's nothing like LOCCENT, more of a command room for the whole bay. Still, she's got drift-monitoring equipment and other Institute staff working on analytical machines. Mari's said it's not for lack of funds that they don't have a super-modern setup here, but because it works right now and making the interface prettier is not top priority.

Not much has changed since what Viktor supposes he'll just call  _the first kiss,_ but there are small things. They stand closer. Looks are surer, warmer. There's not the feeling that the bottom could still fall out of it all, even in their current states where, quite frankly, Viktor doesn't know exactly what's happening with the breach or the PPDC or the Black Tiger. It's a struggle flattened down and overridden by the narrative of  _him and Yuuri, together._

"Of course I'm ready. I talked to Lilia. She promises it won't kill me. And you say so too, right?" Yurio says, in the suit, armor snapped over - but it's heavier this time, and it will take some minutes to get everything wired properly once he's up there. Special suit for him.

"Yup," Mari says.

Viktor just gives Yurio a look. The former-cadet, former-Ranger, holds it. It's something like approval. Beside Viktor, Yuuri gives Yurio a thumbs up. And Yurio returns it, before heading to the lift that will put him inside the hub.

"No view inside there?" Viktor asks Mari, who shakes her head, as Yurio gets in, up and farther away, less distinct. They (Viktor and Yuuri) can at least tell that there are people hooking him up in there.

A few minutes later, Yurio's voice comes from the speaker below Mari's equipment:

"This thing on? Ready?"

Mari presses a button and leans to a pocket of holes on the surface of the main computer she's using.

"OK, yup, just checking . . . can we start the green lights?" Mari turns to the side to talk with, what's his name, the man with the long hair and earrings who seems to be one of the top scientists. Viktor can still feel people giving him looks, a pretty-much-celebrity stuck in the least likely place for him to be. But it doesn't concern him. He's with Yuuri. A flurry of communication ensues where the five-odd technicians hanging at the control board talk remotely with those at the hub. Eventually the small crew on the Kai2 descend and make their way over to Mari at command.

"We're good to go if you are, Yurio," Mari says into her mic.

"Sure," Yurio's voice crackles.

"Alright . . . There's still a neural drift to go through, but it should be less than a copilot drift, maybe only 60% of the strain, due to the physical suit. So, no need to worry. Nope."

"Yeah, you've only told me that 25 times. As long as you're sure I'm enough Kaiju to make this work."

"Yup," Mari says, and it's a little squeaky. "Intiating drift in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . "

Mari keys a few things on her computer. Beside her, the other scientist works at his own controls. He moves a lever. Thick cords snake the concrete distance from their little area to the Kai2 standing still and smooth, illuminated shiningly by the bright gridlights on the roof of the bay.

Leaning in close to the waveforms and numbers that jump to life on her screen, Mari says after a second or two, "Levels look good. Looks good! Yurio, how you doing?"

" . . . Fine. It's just weird. So quiet."

"Initiate Flowsuit at 20%?" the guy scientist -  _Celestino,_ Yuuri reminds Viktor in ghost - says to Mari, who nods.

"20%. Pressure good. Response?"

"Response from L1 consistent. Achieved recognition power at sites 1, 2, 3, 4."

The techs and Celestinio and Mari talk back and forth. Viktor and Yuuri just stand and watch.

Eventually the flowsuit gets powered up fully.

"OK, think we're good to move. Or try moving. Just a little bit at first. Yurio, feeling fine?" Mari chats at a rapid-fire pace, slipping over her words.

"Sure, I can tell the suit's . . . on. The veins are all flowing and stuff."

"Yup, yup, they should be." Viktor watches Mari push up her sleeves even though they're not falling down, and straighten her tie even though it will never be straight (because she's Mari) - must be a gift from someone here, it's dark red with flashy lines of Kaiju teeth and claws on it. "OK, connecting the flowsuit to the MHeart in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . " Mari hits some other keys. There's a heavy, swooping pitch signifying the final connection as she nods to a tech who hits a final switch.

"So now I move?" from Yurio, crackling through the speakers.

"Uh- _huh_ ," Mari says through an inhale. "Just the forearm, right, like we practiced."

"On it," Yurio says. The Kai2's right arm moves up - just barely, and then there's a sharp, short exclamation from Yurio and the arm drops back down. A switch on the board pops back.

"MHeart port R1 deactivated!" one tech reports.

"Power flow?" Celestino asks, turning.

"Still at 100%, no issues," another answers.

"Yurio, Yurio, what's going on?!" Mari's demanding into the mic. She looks at her readout and hits some keys. "I disconnected the suit! You should be able to move! What happened? There's a spike-" Mari frantically scrolls on the trackpad.

"I'm fine," from Yurio, "Just not what I expected, let me go again."

"Are you  _sure?!_ " Mari's voice climbs in pitch.

Yuuri moves from beside Viktor to behind Mari. He puts a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Yeah, the drift's OK, right?" Yurio says.

"Uh, yes, yes it is, OK, sure," Mari looks back around to Celestino, who nods, and Mari starts bobbing her head in agreement. "We're sure," she says. "OK, connecting flowsuit to MHeart. 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . " She presses keys; others flip switches back.

"All ports back online," a tech reports.

"I'm trying again," Yurio says.

The arm starts to move. It slows haltingly. There's a noise of discomfort from Yurio. But then the forearm jerks back to smooth motion, rising up, then back down to its side.

Mari still looks like she's holding her breath.

"Going to next test," Yurio says after a brief intermission.

"Yeah, yeah," Mari says belatedly, the words popping out.

As naturally as with two pilots, the Kai2 lunges forward, full-body. The huge step brings the toe, shiny and in-focus, detailed panelling and tread on the bottom, twenty meters from the group at the control board, shaking the floor. As it lunges back, it powerfully unsheathes both supported blades from their compartments in its arms. They  _shing_ out and snap straight; the Kai2 swings and bends into a ready stance. Holds that for a few moments, then smartly conceals weapons, accurately reforms to standing position.

Mari's mouth has come slightly unhinged.

"It worked, excellent," Celestino remarks. He has a rich voice.

"It-bu-wh-th-that was the  _third test,_ Yurio!" Mari hollers into the mic. "You were supposed to do-"

"Yeah, yeah, I knew I could just do the last one and get out of here," he returns through the mic.

Yuuri looks back at Viktor, and the scene in front no longer owning his gaze loses focus and color for Viktor.  _Look at you, tell me you're not the tiniest bit proud,_ Yuuri ghosts. Viktor does a quick inventory of his face muscles; well, how do you like that, he's got a half-smile on his face.  _It's a breakthrough. Of course I'm proud._

 _Helps that you know the pilot who did it,_ Yuuri says, and turns back around, as techs jog back to travel up to the Kai2 and unhook its pilot.

Belatedly, everyone gives a short round of applause. Mari pumps a fist with a hissed,  _yes!_ Maybe it's not a solo drift, strictly, but it's the first instance of solo piloting known to man.

When Yurio gets back out and marches back to the control group with a lift in his stride - and he does deserve it, Viktor thinks, for getting himself here from where he started - Mari jumps up.

"You're bleeding!" she cries. Yurio stops and wipes his nose; there's a trail of blood down.

"Oh yeah, just the initial try," he says casually. Mari practically leaps on him and prys his eye sockets open to look for the more telltale signs. "Hey hey hey!" Yurio protests, eventually shoving her off.

"Well, no burst blood vessels there," she says critically, sounding unsure.

"It's fine. I could feel it, the second try. It's really good. It sounds fucking stupid, but it's almost like . . . The Kai2's just a bigger copy of me. Like, I  _know_ where it is in space. I'm not just a tiny human stuck inside."

" _Yeeeeee!"_ Mari exclaims, clapping ridiculously. "That's exactly how it's supposed to go!" She throws herself on Yurio again, just to hug him. He shoves her off again. She obliges, flapping her shirt away from her chest. "Phew, enough excitement for today."

"News will spread once people see this," Celestino says. The other techs are crowding out to get drinks in the city or something.

"I'll get out of this," Yurio says, referring to the flowsuit, but he looks up, shaking his hair back, and his eyes connect with Viktor's. Viktor's not sure what that means. Is it a  _told-you-so,_ or is it a request for approval? He's not sure yet, not sure enough to peg it somewhere. Well, he'll go with the truth. "It's good to see when you do something good with what you're given. Regardless of whether you want it or not," Viktor says, stepping to shake Yurio's hand. "If I were Yakov, I'd have kept you on hand."

Yurio raises an eyebrow, and there's a snag of a smile on his face. "Even if I fuck with the rules?"

"Sometimes the rules need fucking with," Viktor says frankly.

Yuuri laughs.

"Amen," Yurio says.

"Double amen," Mari echoes.

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The breach bubbles and spikes threateningly with pre-opening activity two days after the solo drift has been achieved.

There's no way to keep a lid on the breach opening. The world's sparking with interest, hanging on this very event, and the news comes out from the PPDC sooner than later.

When the Cherno Alpha, Phoenix Fist, Gipsy Danger and Eden Assassin are cabled up, the usual PPDC helicopters in the air to provide visuals aren't alone. Technically, only PPDC vehicles are allowed within a certain radius of a live Kaiju, and only the PPDC is allowed to release footage, but hovering at a grey-area distance is a small smattering of other news agency helicopters, come to get a scoop.

The four Jaegers are an impressive sight, for sure. But if the public only knew details, they might not be so sure. The Eden Assassin's new pair of pilots have the lowest evaluation marks in the history of Ranger admittance to the Jaeger program from the Academy - a rushed necessity. The Rangers in the Gipsy Danger aren't really even Rangers. And one half of the Phoenix Fist dips and swerves out of the drift, though he apologizes tightly for it, and does it again.

It's the Cherno Alpha that takes the lead, smashing her fists together, sloped head sitting heavily on her shoulders, as the party marches slowly through the depths, crashing a path of swirling waves in their wake. Then, they pause, and submerge.

Non-PPDC helicopters tag along at a safe distance, behind those in contact with LOCCENT. They cover eastward distance.

After several minutes of flight, and a couple of hovering, one of the tagalongs whirs off north on a tangent, tempting the others. What could it have spotted?

There seemed to be a red blur on the horizon, but it quickly vanished from sight.

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"Doing good under there?" Mari says through Yurio's comms. Luckily it hasn't taken much to hook up remote cams in the solo Kai2's hub window, and what Yurio sees is projected in giant format onto a divider lowered in the bay. Black Tiger staff, from the regular harvester to the middle dealer and deliverer, up to A-level scientists, the former Jaeger program General and his copilot, and the headmistress herself, have shown up to watch. Most are spread out across the bay floor. The Tango and the first Kai2 have been moved to the side, along with jets and other vehicles parked around them like ducklings to a mother duck, to make room.

Chris is there too, at Lilia's side. Viktor and Yuuri stand sort of in front and to the left of Mari's command board. Lilia and Chris behind her to the right. Funny, exactly where he and Yakov would stand behind Guang-Hong, Viktor thinks.

"Fine," Yurio answers, his static-laced answer broadcasted so it reverberates a touch inside the large bay. The screen is just water, bubbles and dark waves rushing past. "We're going fast." Viktor thinks he can hear a grin in Yurio's tone. He notes this to Yuuri in the ghost between them. It's sort of a normal thing, now, this talking-without-talking. Yuuri nods back, without looking at Viktor, both keeping their gaze on the projected screen.

 _I can tell he's having fun,_ Yuuri says.

"You're getting close to the latitude intercept," Mari says to the solo pilot. She looks to her side and talks with someone in else in charge of other tracking devices, goes back to talking to Yurio about positioning.

Mari's told Viktor and Yuuri that this is supposed to be a show. It's not strictly to grab a Kaiju carcass, though that's the end plan. Obviously, they'll be leaving a few behind, where, with the treaty off, they don't  _have_ to, if Black Tiger had a means of grabbing them, they would. No, this is about proving the claims that have been recently televised.

Viktor tosses a side glance at Lilia and Chris beside her. Lilia wears heels, and she's a smidge taller than Chris' 6' 1'' frame. Viktor doesn't know quite what to make of Lilia yet. He has this, at least: she's smart, lived long enough to learn some things, and has goals larger than material things. Whether it's prestige or power, and more importantly, why her ambitions are as they are, Viktor couldn't pin down. Even Chris didn't say much on that.  _We don't have coffee dates, we work together. I know what she wants done, and I fly around the world to do it. Oh, I think maybe she thinks she deserves some time in the spotlight, and I agree. But generally, I don't concern myself with whatever her reasons are behind money-making and scientific advancement. We just get the job done, hm?_ \- That had been Chris' take. Maybe he should ask Yurio, Viktor thinks; that would be who to go to next.

One thing he knows: he owes Lilia, he owes Black Tiger, and he will work hard to keep her favour and raise no heads. Unless he finds a reason to do so. There's no logical reason to be suspicious of Black Tiger from what he's seen, any more than the illegal activity the Jaeger program is already aware of, but there's no reason to  _not_ be suspicious, either.

 _We'll go to see my parents really quick in a couple days,_ Yuuri says in ghost as the screen output remains about the same, just an underwater journey.

_\- What? They'll let us go? Not to say that I'm dependent on that, but -_

_\- They have to. And we have to come back._

_\- Hm. It will look very nice._

_\- Yes. Nice. . . Honestly, I don't think I'd be reluctant to go on with Black Tiger at all, if it weren't for the Jaeger program. I don't want to look like it's me or you starting a fight._

_\- Lilia's already detailed this is under no circumstances to be a Jaeger-to-Kai2 engagement._

_\- Oh, of course. I mean, other sorts of fights. Political. International._

_\- Hope it doesn't get that bad. Hope Yakov moves to repair a treaty after this._

_\- I hope they'll negotiate something._

_\- If this goes well for us, maybe Yakov will_  want  _to negotiate an alliance._

Yuuri gives a side-to-side bob of his head as if weighing the situation.  _If the Kaiju threat gets bad enough, it could happen. He might have to._

_\- Lilia could try and get the better end of the deal._

_\- And in all of this, we could finally close the Breach._

_\- Yes. If Yakov dangles enough assets in front of their noses - finds out what Lilia wants and gives it to her - then Black Tiger's happy, and Yakov gets enough firepower, and Mari back, to redo Pitfall._

Viktor sighs through his nose. There's too much getting in the way of that all-important goal for his liking. But, what can he do? Not much, in his current condition, he's thought angrily, weak as he is - can barely work out, constantly tired, pain in his arm and shoulder and midsection, Kaiju-blue-stained-skin, and  _oh right,_ on his own he  _really can't fucking see for shit._ He knows the flashes of fury at his own incapability have shocked through to Yuuri at times, and he's said sorry, and Yuuri's said, no, he understands. It really doesn't help, though, and the familiar boiling feeling tightens in Viktor's gut. He focuses on the warmth of Yuuri's hand as it rests on his side, arm wrapped around his lower back.  _Sorry,_ he apologizes for the nth time as of late,  _I know you're not having a fun time of it either._

 _\- I can go back on my meds soon. I'll be good. You need to take it easy,_ Yuuri admonishes.

 _\- Pff!_ Viktor scoffs, because now is  _not_ the time in which anyone should be sitting back and doing nothing.  _I didn't want to be a General, so I became a Ranger, and now I can't be a Ranger, not for some time yet, so what do I do with myself?_ he rants crossly.

 _\- Just stay you,_ Yuuri hums.  _Just be you, Viktor. Is that so hard?_

Viktor thinks about this while they wait for something exciting to happen. He thinks how he's become someone-else's-something all his life. Maybe he needs to go beyond a position or a degree or an accreditation. There's something that will fit only him that hasn't been made, and won't be, until he makes it. One thing: he's never been good at crossing lines and, what is it,  _fucking with the rules?_ \- until,  _Yuuri_ happened. And honestly, he's in too deep and everything's too screwed up to make  _going back_ an easy path. So maybe it's time.

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A fleet of  _seven_ Kaiju rush outward, deathly, heavy wave to meet their opponents. Assorted types: Raiju, Scunner, Leatherback, something that bears a resemblance to the Onibaba with its gross sucking insect mouth, but is long and partitioned, more like than a (giant, clawed, and toxic) shrimp than a crab - and in the mix, one Slattern.

It's clear the category V Kaiju is the captain. Maybe they're getting more strategic, or maybe whoever is sending them through the Breach is. Gloating before the kill - the sentiment glimmers in beady eyes, flashes through glowing in-skin patterns, as shockwaves from the Breach rupture, which this time spread through B1 and B2, ripple outward, soon to cause trouble for those far removed from the battlegrounds.

"We'll try to take the Slattern!" Mila and Sara shout through their comms, the Cherno standing in the forefront of the four Jaegers as the Kaiju signatures near them, sonar beeps with distance estimates rushing down to zero on their readouts.

" _Don't engage the Slattern alone!_ " from LOCCENT. " _Cherno and Phoenix, you two on the Slattern!"_ It's a mix of Yakov and another tech heading things up with Guang-Hong in a Jaeger now.

"What about us?" squeaks Guang Hong, in the Gipsy, TRISTEM2.1 blades ejected and arc reactor burning in the Jaeger's chest.

" _What comes at you, and you as well, Eden,"_ LOCCENT says, but that's all the time they have.

Creating shockwaves of their own, metal and monsters meet.

A Scunner's up against the Eden. Two Raiju on the Gipsy. Cherno and Phoenix, as ordered, occupied with the Slattern; the Onibaba-ish thing hangs around, waiting to assist its captain.

But a Leatherback and another Scunner push through the defense and head towards the unmistakable pull of someone who stands in wait.

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"Two Kaiju coming for the Kai2," one of the kids who runs the tracking and Breach diagnostic center says. Lilia orchestrated the triple's (apparently everyone calls the three kids the Triple) control room equipment moved out to the bay command area, which is now surrounded with half-height clear barricades. The feed from Yurio's hub camera is still projected onto the bay wall, the hanging partition, and a pretty good horde of Black Tiger affiliates are hanging out to watch. It's mainly the Triple, Mari and a couple other people doing all the communications and tracking.

"Yurio, you got that? Two-" Mari starts saying into her mic and cuts herself off; on the feed, from where the view has stabilized since Yurio reached the wait point, two dark figures grow into larger and larger blotches.

"I see them," Yurio's reply crackles back.

Viktor watches Mari look at all the diagnostics on her screen; she scrolls, presses buttons, looks at the screen again, her mouth parted slightly in concentration.

"Everything looks good," she murmurs to herself. The view shudders as Yurio ejects his weapon blades and the Kaiju approach near enough you can see their blue-green glowing eyes, the frill of the Leatherback, hammerhead of the Scunner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wip document: "28760 words"  
> me: "guess i'll post then"
> 
> i'm SORRY it's not done yet i'm REALLY CLOSE .... I just keep adding scenes . . . in the middle ... I can't help it....


	46. Come Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hoooOOO BOY there it is

The Cherno and Phoenix give it all they've got.

Z-14 fists charged, the Cherno knuckles into the Slattern's haunches with a nickel-roll punch and releases the voltage through the creature. Unfortunately, it's already caught the Phoenix up in its tri-pronged tail, and just as the Phoenix is setting a Sting-blade on course for chopping one of them off, the beast goes crazy with an electric seizure. Nearly 7000 tons of beast thrash and flop, battering the Phoenix like a wet rag against the surrounding terrain.

Pressing advantage, the Cherno tackles the beast, winding up another punch and fisting into the Slattern's neck, holding onto the bucking creature, helm withstanding its wild blows. Metal fist hits thick Kaiju skin and bone at maximum impact, sending a radial blast outward and whipping the Phoenix out at full length of the barbed tails which entrap it. Sting blades out, its Rangers look to swipe down and chop off the tree-trunk-thick alien limbs; movement stutters as the drift dips momentarily, but the pilots recover and Kaiju blood blooms into the waves, two out of three tail prongs missing. Another blast from the Cherno's powerful punches rocks radially outward as the Slattern bemoans its fracturing skull and spine with deafening, underwater screeches.

The Phoenix might think it's free, but turns only to face the disgusting, flapped, many-tongued maw of the upgraded Onibaba.

A bright flash of light renders the creature blinded momentarily; it's the Eden's IB22 caster going off at full charge.

Pieces of a shredded Scunner and snotty trails of flesh and blood, burning with the potent plasma that killed the beast, fling out through the water, tossing the area into more confusion. The Phoenix is now holding the Onibaba at bay, as its claws snap and mouth stretches open; the Jaeger tries to ready the K-missiles; the Gipsy has stuck its double prong weapons deep into Raiju flesh, one in each, and it's a race in time to see if the Raiju tear the Jaeger apart or if the Gipsy can wrestle and electrocute them into submission first.

 _"_ Didn't exactly think this through!" Leo shouts as both pilots strain to fight the frantic squirming of the beasts that jerk them around by the arms, and simultaneously build up a charge.

"No we didn't!" Guang Hong agrees.

"Some help?" Leo says through the comms. Some connections tear in the Gipsy's arm and red warning lights pop up around Guang Hong's arm holograph representing his weapon.

"My TRISTEM is offline!" Guang Hong says in alarm.

"Coming!" from the Phoenix as the Eden has barrelled in to knock the Phoenix free from the Onibaba II, and the Cherno's just hammering the Slattern to death with its fists.

Leo and Guang Hong yell with the  _pull_ and sudden freedom of one arm as the Phoenix wraps the Raiju around and yanks it off the Gipsy's blades on that side. Wake of Kaiju blood trails from each of the three trident points. Thrashing, the Raiju knocks the Phoenix off via its tail. As they recover, white-hot Sting blades hissing in the cold water, the Phoenix readies for an attack - but instead the Raiju turns and swims west.

"We got this, go get the other one!" from Leo in the Gipsy as they turn full attention to the remaining Raiju, gaining some control. So the Phoenix jets off in hot pursuit.

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The view from the hub camera goes into violent confusion, flashes of blade movement, patches of darkness blotted out by a Kaiju, as the Kai2 engages both the Leatherback and the Scunner. Mari and the Triple give punctuated updates and the crowd leans and reacts with simultaneous realizations of how the tide of battle's flowing.

"Leatherback wounded."

"He's stabbed its head-"

"Got around the Scunner."

The Kai2's fast and fluid. Its torso is also capable of rotating 180 degrees for easy maneuverability. Yurio makes use of the wide open arena to distance himself.

"Jetting in for the Leatherback - no, Scunner -"

Fortunate both his opponents are weighty and slow. A blow from the Leatherback glances off the Kai2's exoskeleton, deflects it off to the Scunner, but Yurio uses it to slash down in a lunging one-two hack that leaves one of its front two fused limbs hanging by spare threads of tendon and flesh, and the other only in slightly better condition.

"Excellent," Lilia approves. There are harvest subs waiting a safe radius out from the battle. Chris speaks to them through his own radio.

And then the Leatherback opens its mouth and a pulse of EMR loosens in a vicious, soaking outwards rings.

This is the true test; and it passes. The Kai2 is completely nuclear. Everything stays online.

"We're good, still getting feed."

"Hella. I'm good."

The Triples give Mari a thumbs-up.

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The Leatherback shuts its jaws, continuing to tread afloat in the waves with its powerful limbs, expecting a stunned and sleepy feast. Not so. Its lithe, red opponent, veins and arteries wrapping around shoulders and pumping through limbs, tackles it, two blades extended. They pierce deep into the Leatherback's chest and it roars in pain, trying to thwack and batter the creature off it. But the Kai2's faster; it flips around, jets itself downwards to rip open the wounds, then springboards off the bony ridge that runs down the Leatherback's chest and twists away, on instructions to let the mortally wounded Kaiju sink to harvesters.

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The Phoenix has tried to get at the Raiju's underbelly, but the mad creature won't stay still, keeps twisting even as it bleeds, and the Phoenix can only hang on as the Raiju swims towards its target, one Sting blade jammed under and between two of its thick back plates. Just as the Jaeger's about to catch the Raiju's snapping, frilled jaw with its other blade, the EMR blast from the Leatherback shuts it down, puts it offline.

Few hundred meters west, the Eden goes dark as well, and the Cherno urgently goes its side as the Onibaba II has sleeping prey of a sudden.

"LOCCENT! We're offline! Where is this Kaiju going?" Emil shouts into the comms.

"We're stuck," from Altin, grimly.

Of a sudden, the Raiju takes a stomach-flipping dive and the Phoenix is completely disoriented. It's flung this way and that; there are blurs of the alien's tail and head and something red. The Rangers are reduced to strapped-in dummies, on board the lifeless Jaeger.

no opportunities to free themselves from the docks and try and re-boot the Jaeger. All of a sudden, the forces applied to the helpless Ranger in their prison of a machine cease, and there's only the wasting momentum and their own weight tugging them down; looking up through the helm, everything is too real, no diagnostic overlays of red, blue, green.

The Raiju is still, swirling trails of its blood decorating the waves. The red blur - Kai2, they've figured out by now - is dark against the light coming through the surface, face up, jets to surface dragging the carcass, and some unknown vehicles come to drag it off, just more black silhouettes. Then the Kai2 turns - just the torso - and through the lighted oblong window, it's all too clear for the Phoenix' pilots, even as they un-dock themselves and scramble to manually boot their power source back up. A millisecond glance is all it takes to notice two things:

There's only one pilot running the thing.

That pilot is Yuri Plisetsky.

And the Kai2 rolls off east, leaving the Phoenix to save itself.

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The Kai2 returns to base looking like a real fighter. It's got some bruises, some damage, but it stands tall and able. Some of the crowd in the bay has already left, since it became apparent the mission was a success, but others still hang around.

Viktor and Yuuri wait far back, at the command desk for a while. The hub window splits open as the MHeart powers down, the cardioid-shaped reactor set sideways in the Kai2's chest dimming its glow and the fluid pumping through its veins stilling.

Yurio steps out. His hair is wild; he's sharp eyed and looks confident. There's blood trailing from his nose again but he turns, still in the heavier flowsuit armor, and makes his way down to ground level.

No cheering, it's oddly silent - to Viktor's ears, at least, since he's used to the jovial shatterdome reception - but Yurio's given a tangibly proud welcome. Some people reach out; Yurio seems to realize what that's for and he slaps their hands as he walks by. He makes his way back to the command desk.

Viktor watches Yuuri shake his hand happily, and then Viktor shakes his hand as well, feeling a grin on his face, matching Yurio's.

The Triple's run off to play ball or something. Mari's still there. She practically jumps on Yurio and pulls a (prepared?) handkerchief out of her pocket, wiping off his bloody nose. Yurio flinches and scrunches up his face, passes a hand there like he didn't realize it.

"You sure you're OK?" Mari says breathlessly, not giving Yurio any time to answer. "Oh man, that was great! You did great! I have to go though!" She turns back to Lilia. "Uh, the new Kaiju-they-where do they?"

Lilia motions her off with a placid direction. Then Mari's rushing to something about Division B and Kaiju, unmistakably excited to get her hands on alien flesh and bones and systems again.

Viktor sees Yurio's gaze lower in deference when Lilia steps up to congratulate him, shaking his hand: her right clasping firmly, left hand soft on top.

While they talk, Chris goes to Yuuri and Viktor, checking his watch and pulling a phone out of his pocket. Through Yuuri's eyes, Viktor can ascertain: Chris' glasses are tortoiseshell with gold accents on the edges, imprints of roses winding around the side arms.

He gives the pair the reserved-for-couples-only-smile, which is really just a little more sultry than his usual resting expression, eyes going from one to the other.

"So, anxious to get back in a mecha?" he says.

"In due time. I've had almost too much fun recently." Viktor responds. "How about you?"

"Oh, I'm going somewhere. I'll be back for later. Apparently Lilia's sending some of our representatives with me to meet some PPDC bureaucrats and try to work out some sort of deal. It's mostly just to scope out the other side, though. I'm sure we'll be saying nice words and taking quick notes."

Yuuri glances at Viktor.

"Do you think they'll work something out in the end?" Yuuri asks.

Chris puffs a short sigh through his teeth and glances back at Yurio. "You shouldn't be asking me," he says.

Viktor nods to himself, and Yuuri in ghost.

"Excuse me, gentlemen."

Chris heads off.

"I don't mind watching," Viktor says to Yuuri as they walk back. "It's a lot different than standing in LOCCENT as General.

"I want to get back in one of them. I'm going to ask Mari if there's any chance I could . . . go solo at all."

Viktor shakes his head as they turn and leave the bay.

"I'm sure there's not," he says.

"I'm back on my meds. It'll get better soon," Yuuri says stubbornly, and Viktor can feel the set of his will in ghost.

"After we get back from Hasetsu?" Viktor says. The reminder of this occasion brings a smile to Yuuri's face.

"Sure," Yuuri agrees. "I can wait for that."

Yuuri pushes himself up on his tiptoes and kisses Viktor lightly, just a touch.

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Viktor and Yuuri travel under aliases, just in have a good laugh over Viktor being blind and wearing dark glasses in the airport; Viktor really wanted to find a cane to tap in front of him but Yuuri complained,  _that's too silly, just hold on to my arm!_ Then Viktor reminded him they  _don't_ want to attract attention, and maybe around here two men linking arms and walking together might.  _If I still had my long hair,_ Viktor had joked.

In the end, they went for  _both_ the cane and the linked arms.

Viktor being blind really is a fairly realistic excuse, and gave the reason for the glasses.

Of course there are signs of the times in the little Yakutsk airport. Black Tiger has chartered them a plane for themselves, but they wait and queue up in the terminal all the same. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, it's quite full; people waiting to fly out or waiting for others to fly in. Anxious, delays everywhere. There's a storm system coming up in the north Pacific right now, and many of the flights on the screen are red for delayed or cancelled.

"I'm your eyes, you be my ears," Yuuri leans to Viktor's ear and whispers.

Viktor snorts a little. "Nothing important. This woman is telling her kids off. This one is screaming because he lost that new toy that everyone has," Viktor details as they pass everyone, heading to security. Apparently they're going at a specific time that the security staff will be certain to let them through. " . . . This man is on the phone . . . sounds like he is explaining to someone why whoever he's waiting for isn't here. He's mad at the airline."

Viktor drops his gaze. His silver-dyed hair is stuffed up into his toque and the whirling outside snow has dusted the top of Yuuri's cyan blue toque as well. Yuuri's wrapped up in a thick, puffy dark blue down-filled coat, a scarf and gloves. Viktor doesn't mind the cold as much; he wears a slate-colored scarf and a dark tan, lined jacket that reaches to his knees. Carry-ons trundle on the floor behind them. They're in no hurry, arms linked, Viktor holding a rather fashionable cane Chris dug up out in front of him. It's got the proper end to it for a blind person, but nice little jade insets, made of dark oiled wood.

"I won't be surprised if Lilia's next Kai2 looks like those costumes they use for the Lion dance," Yuuri almost giggles. "With the big eyes? And just red and gold and fancy patterns everywhere."

"It'll have a cape with tassels-"

"-and embroidery!"

There's lots of embroidery hanging in Lilia's office.

"She'll make a whole train of them to go off Lion dancing together!"

"The weapon will be drums. Just soundwaves that destroy everything."

In ghost images flash from one to the other - impressions of Yurio in a bad mood in this made-up Kai2, and Yuuri in a stupid costume drivesuit and then  _Viktor_ in a stupid costume drivesuit and soon they're both sniggering and Yuuri's got a hand pressed to his face and Viktor's biting his lip  _very hard._

-  _Ok, ok, let's calm down,_ Viktor says, knowing they can't talk about that too much longer because they'll start laughing too loudly and attract attention. They take a few minutes to get their breathing under control and then they're in line for security, just furtively glancing around to see if anyone has paid attention to them. No.

Yuuri sighs and Viktor feels it. Viktor waits for Yuuri to explain.

"I always have really terrible buyer's remorse." He continues in ghost.  _When I was younger, I would see something I wanted and think about it for a long, long time. Then, when I finally decided I wanted to buy it, I would go in the store and spend 20 minutes just_ making sure _. And then, the second I got on my bike to go home . . . I felt like it was the wrong thing to do, buying this, whatever it was._

"But what was it?" Viktor responds out loud.

"Not the point, Viktor," Yuuri says, and adds, "But one time I got a really cool figure of Tacit Ronin."

"Nice," Viktor approves. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"Well . . . standing here now . . ."  _I know we're going for a couple days, but Mari's staying to do work, shouldn't I be as well? I'm not useful over there. I mean, I really want you to meet them. And I know I should see them, I know you've said I should and I believe it, but still, I . . ._

Viktor remembers Yuuri explaining about Mari's lukewarm response to visiting her and Yuuri's parents for a couple days.  _They at least supported me when I wanted to do figure skating, before I got old enough for the Academy,_ Yuuri had said.  _But I was the star child for a while, an athlete with a chance of representing Japan on the international scale someday. Mari? She had to be forced to do housework, and once that was done, she kept fish and read statistics textbooks and dyed her hair weird colors. They never believed in her ambitions to go to a top-ranked university and study Kaiju. Granted, she was a weird kid, but you know, she did well in school . . . For some reason, I seemed to have more potential. I don't think my parents did this on purpose, but when I was starting to struggle in juniors, Mari finished highschool and flew out, kind of spitefully, on a scholarship. Just like that. She keeps in touch. But I think it's politeness._

This detail has made Viktor a little sad and a little more grounded about Mari Katsuki.

But there it is, the sibilings are both stubborn, and they've both made their own ways in the world, somehow.

Yuuri's still worrying away and feeling suddenly like he wants to turn around, Viktor knows in ghost, and just plain read from how he's fidgeting and looking around.

_\- Yuuri, you know, one of my best skills is pretending. I'm very good at it. And it's not so good for me a lot of the time. But it's very useful now. Just pretend that it's a nice trip to meet your parents. Pretending, in this case, will be safe, for a couple days. No tsunamis. No Kaiju, no Jaeger program, no Black Tiger._

Yuuri exhales.

"Right."

Then Viktor steps up to communicate with the attendant at the desk in Russian.

Soon, they're sitting on a runway, a small propeller plane to Hasetsu.

Yuuri takes out his phone and dials while they're still allowed to use their phones. Viktor sits quietly beside him, listen to soft Japanese go back and forth once someone picks up. The volume of Yuuri's tone doesn't say much, but his expression, growing tight and fond and anxious and something bittersweet in turn, gives it away.

After he hangs up, Viktor tries to start talking out loud, but it's much easier in ghost.

-  _So your parents know we're coming, right?_

 _\- They do now,_ Yuuri gives a wiggle of the head.

_\- I imagine they were very relieved to hear your voice. Missing in action, that's the news everywhere about us._

_\- Yes._

_\- You're not very excited._

_\- I haven't seen them in a long time._

_\- I've never seen them. I'm looking forward to it._

_\- I . . . didn't tell them you're coming too._

_\- Why not?_

_\- N-nothing bad. I just think some things are better in person - I didn't want to talk to them on the phone for long. It's too strange._

Yuuri fidgets with his hands in his lap.  _I'm sure by now they would have resigned themselves to never hearing from me again._

 _\- I'm glad that's not true now,_ Viktor says.

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As Viktor and Yuuri land in Japan and steel themselves to pass security and get out in the crowds of people, much thicker than Yakutsk, waiting and leaving in the terminal, the first in-person negotiations happen between Black Tiger and PPDC.

They occur pleasantly, smiling teeth are closed gates. Instructions from higher up.

There's talk of giving, but neither side gives.

The casualty of this division will be much larger than themselves.

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Yuuri calls home as soon as they manage to find their way to the bus and then the train. It's fairly full, around five in the afternoon. Japan's segment of the Wall has held up extremely well; there's no obvious destruction to be found in the country, but as surrounding nations are battered, economic effects  _are_ reaching its shores, Viktor's sure.

Nevertheless, everything seems normal. Chatter of a language he doesn't understand lulls him into a peace as he looks out the window, city going by, people stuffing themselves in and out. Viktor sort of tries to make himself shorter than he is.

People sleep standing up. Yuuri hangs up the phone.

Eventually Yuuri leads Viktor off at a stop and they hail a taxi. It's another hour and a half, sprinkled with walking and a short bus ride, crossing a river too, before they arrive at the Onsen.

"It's a very nice small city," Viktor comments to Yuuri as they walk smooth concrete, scattered with cherry blossoms. It's sakura season and the fluffy pink trees are all around; well, most of them. Some look barren and withered. That's from the minute levels of Kaiju blue, ppm carried through the air.

Yuuri's gotten more mellow as they travel, baggage in tow.

"It is, isn't it," Yuuri murmurs, turning in to a traditional-looking archway set along a fence, two pillared lamp posts outside. Kanji hang in a welcoming banner. Viktor can't read it.

Through the gate entrance he can clearly see the courtyard and there's a nice-looking, moderately large house awaiting, with decorated traditional rooftops and garden behind gates.

"I know it's a tourist attraction of some sort, but forgive my ignorance," Viktor says questioningly.

"Onsen - it's a hot springs resort. Just a small business for us. Not too many rooms.

Viktor knows from his vision that Yuuri's focused on the doorway, but asks him to give him a look around to the otherwise blurry and desaturated peripherals. So they walk around outside the entrance for a while and Yuuri points and explains; there are plants out here, and trees as well. Tells some memories he has of growing up here. Explains where other attractions are; Hasetsu castle, rumored to have been an ancient ninja training facility, and then the ice rink where Yuuri says he always practiced.

Viktor lights up at that -  _could we go there?_ Meaning,  _can you ska-_ but their attention snaps to the door, which has opened, and Yuuri's parents come stepping out.

Yuuri asks Viktor to wait outside for the moment and Viktor complies, standing by a side of the archway, hidden for now, while Yuuri goes in.

At first hesitantly, and Viktor can feel the tension in Yuuri that quickly gives to a burst of emotions; he meets his parents halfway, giving his mother a strong embrace and withdrawing to bow with hands pressed to his chest. Fondly Viktor watches; the Katsukis' world is just the three of them right now. Yuuri's mother reaches up to smooth his hair back, eyes full and looking like they've been starved of this sight of her son for so long; steps aside; she's wearing what looks to Viktor's untrained eye something like plain, traditional dress. She's short, and a bit plump, but not unattractively so; wisps of grey streak her hair and she has kind brown eyes. That's where Yuuri got his from, Viktor decides.

Yuuri gives the same welcome to his father, who's taller than his mother but shorter than Yuuri. They exchange words in Japanese. The father smiles toothily, hair parted to the side, laughing about something in a clattering way. The mother beams, looking tired at the same time; Viktor sees tears in her eyes. She gives Yuuri another hug and looks him over, pinches his cheek.

The three disappear inside the house; from the archway Viktor holds onto the ghost, stretching tight, and receives the OK from Yuuri to make his way in.

Leisurely Viktor strolls through the courtyard, looking around but of course not seeing too much.

When he arrives at the door, his own luggage in tow, he sends a little poke to Yuuri in ghost.  _Settled yet?_ He gets the impression Yuuri's still talking to his parents, judging when the initial flood of emotions and greetings after  _so long_ have abated enough. A few minutes pass and Viktor's content to let the chill breeze whisk around him, letting Yuuri catch up inside. No doubt he's trying to get a hold of himself as well.

Finally Yuuri says  _OK_ and Viktor knocks; Yuuri opens the door and lets him in.

Viktor steps into a welcoming, hardwood-floored lobby. Plants tuck in corners; there's a bright calendar behind the reception desk, at which sits a laptop. The light is warm. A happy garland is strung diagonally across the ceiling.

The father takes Viktor's coat; the mother welcomes him as a stranger, a guest, in accented Japanese. Viktor bows to both mother and father, and there's a spark of questioning recognition he feels from them, even as he straightens up and removes his dark glasses. The bow is returned, and they seem uncertain.

He can't blame them for not recognizing him - or believing it's him - right away. After all, Viktor still wears his toque and the stains on his cheeks have faded but there lingers a black tint on his chest, spreading down to wounds still healing. He's sure he doesn't give off an aura of former-Jaeger-program-General anymore. (Doesn't need to. After all, that isn't  _him_ anymore.)

Yuuri nods to his parents, stepping in, rattling off an introduction. Viktor catches his name, more heavily accented, in the spiel. (He likes the pronunciation, it's very endearing,  _veek-tore_ ). Immediately the father questions Yuuri, and Viktor catches the word  _copilot_ in the mix. Yuuri quickly nods then turns to Viktor and gives him his introduction: "Toshiya, my father, Hiroko, my mother." Viktor says  _pleased to meet you_ as best as he can, that's about as much as he knows, while pulling off his toque, subconsciously smoothing his white-silver hair down.

Then the parents realize full-on. Hiroko's round eyes get wide and her mouth opens. The parents look at each other and Viktor again, and bow longer this time, which prompts Viktor to wave his hands, saying, "No, no, please," with a little laugh, but he's turning a bit red at the deference. Some combination of  _I'm not General anymore_ and  _this is just a trip to meet my - copilot's parents. My love's parents. My Yuuri's parents._ That seems to fit better.

Yuuri talks to Toshiya and Hiroko again and soon they stop bowing, to Viktor's relief. Yuuri seems to get his parents up to speed, even though Viktor can't understand what he's saying, gesturing and nodding while his parents go "Ah?!" and "Ah _aaa?!",_ the latter of which reminds Viktor strongly of Mari. They glance from Yuuri to Viktor, still seeming as if they need to bow. Viktor stands there awkwardly.

At short last, which feels like a long last, Toshiya offers Viktor something to drink; Viktor accepts, with a  _domo arigato._ (That at least he knows.) The father hurries off behind the counter, probably to a kitchen.

Hiroko motions to the two spotless couches, telling everyone to  _sit, sit!._

Yuuri sits close beside Viktor.

-  _I'll try to translate in here,_ Yuuri says in ghost. Viktor nods. He realizes his hand has subconsciously slipped over Yuuri's, his palm down, Yuuri's palm up.

Toshiya returns quickly; they get their tea and settle down for more talking, Viktor supposes.

Toshiya seems to be the more talkative of the two. He asks, and Viktor understands, thanks to Yuuri's work in ghost, what gave Viktor the time, and of course Yuuri as well, to visit their humble Onsen? They haven't much business these days due to the frequent natural disasters and are thinking of closing the place, so to have an honored guest among such few - and, to prove the rumors true, because the elder Katsukis didn't know who exactly Yuuri's copilot was, only that the Tango went down and their son in it. They knew from his letters that at first he had someone else, another Yuri. But, as has been the case for the last couple years, they didn't know much about their son at all.

Between the translation and the tone, Viktor can feel the detachment of the time that's passed and slowly severed the family.

Toshiya seems to be rambling, and Hiroko quiets her husband and poses a question to Yuuri:  _She says she is very glad to see me; both of us; but really she wants to know why I came, now, particularly._

A second after this translation Hiroko adds on, and Yuuri explains:  _She never thought I would come back, at least not while I was still a Ranger._

Yuuri looks down; Viktor opens his mouth to start answering the question; but surprisingly Yuuri recovers himself and replies to his mother. The only bit Viktor understands is his own name in the mix.

Yuuri doesn't immediately give the translation to Viktor, and from the parents' expressions - something like they are taken off-guard - he wants to know, he bugs Yuuri in ghost,  _what did you say, now I have to say something, come on._

_Uh - I said that you mean a lot to me, you saved my life and we're together now so I wanted them to meet you. You, as in part of us._

There's a fierce truth ringing through the ghost between them that edges out all hesitancy. Viktor can stand firm in this moment, though he's not sure what the reaction will be. He nods in agreement, looking to Yuuri's parents, who still look like they're filtering the information.

In his mind there's a flashback to the boardroom, alone with Yakov. The strings holding his heart up, cut. Something about being  _that kind of man._ Something about  _wasted time,_ spent raising and caring for-

But this is not that.

Hiroko breaks into a smile, her eyes crinkling up, clasping hands; Toshiya nods in cadence, commenting in a lively tone to Yuuri.

Yuuri laughs, translates belatedly:  _he says it's about time I let someone take care of me._

Toshiya adds something else.

_If you're the reason I came back to see them, he approves._

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That day and the next, they purposefully leave the TV off. They go on a jog together (slow jog, that's all Viktor can manage), nostalgia from Yuuri the whole way, around the riverside where the Wall is a dark protector in the hazed distance, and looping through some hilly trails in nature. There's the pools, of course, the baths behind the house. All to themselves, no one staying there right now; indeed, Toshiya and Hiroko's plans to move further inland and downsize are just a question of  _when._

They stay up late enough, listening to music, of all things. Viktor's favorites:  _Stammi Vicino_ ,  _Astravok, Il Dolce Suono, Caruso, O Mio Babbino Caro,_ and many other arias. A peace settles between them. Viktor feels Yuuri has fallen asleep one night on the wide bed, lamps at either side, wooden panelled walls:  _Un bel di_ still sings on and Viktor feels like this has ever been his heartbeat, since he boarded the helicopter to retrieve Yuuri from the Wall, since he stepped into the kwoon  _to Yuuri,_ since he stepped into a Jaeger  _with Yuuri_ , knowing every time more and more why he did so, and yet not getting too close, and yet waiting for Yuuri:

Vedi? È venuto! /  _Do you see it? He is coming!_

Io non gli scendo incontro. Io no. /  _I don't go down to meet him, not I._

Mi metto là sul ciglio del colle e aspetto /  _I stay upon the edge of the hill_

e aspetto gran tempo /  _And I wait a long time_

e non mi pesa, la lunga attesa. /  _but I do not grow weary of the long wait._

They eat with Yuuri's parents: Viktor absolutely falls in love with a dish Hiroko prepares, that Yuuri knowingly watches as Viktor takes a bite and exclaims how  _tasty it is!_. . . Katsudon, pork and noodles, put together, oh so delicious.

"I used to eat this way too much," Yuuri says to Viktor in English as they sit and eat.

The ghost translation seems to be working. Viktor gets Yuuri to explain to his parents about the ghost before they try to talk to him alone and expect him to understand, since, well, they can't  _hear_ Yuuri translating for Viktor.

Viktor also leaves Yuuri time alone with his parents. He doesn't press for details. But one night as they're just strolling outside along the river, a storm gathering on the horizon beyond the wall, Yuuri sighs and says it was good to come back. He says he managed to tell them that the old hurt when they basically forced him into the Academy remains, that, after he failed hard in juniors in skating, and they pulled their support out from that passion, it felt like the worst betrayal. His dreams in shambles, ripping the pieces from his hands, as he clung to them bitterly. But also that, no matter the past, he's thankful now.

_\- Here . . . I feel like I've become more than I ever thought I could be. Even if it wasn't what I wanted for the longest time._

Viktor asks him what his parents said, because they seem so kind.

 _I think the time and distance has softened them,_ Yuuri says.  _They felt like they were ultimately to blame after the Knifehead Incident, when I didn't come home and didn't let anyone come get me . . . and then the same, after they got the Missing In Action notice. But they're proud of me, Viktor. My mom said she's so proud of me. She knew I could . . . she always saw this future for me, I don't know how, all I saw before they put me in the Academy was a anxiety-ridden kid crying in the bathroom after the Grand Prix . . ._

Viktor has his arm around Yuuri in the evening light as tears trail down Yuuri's face.

"I was af-afraid they would be  _hurt_ more than anything that I never came back or called them, just wrote them bland letters once in a blue moon and that's why I was afraid of coming here but . . . . I know they're hurt and it's my fault but they understand, you know, Viktor? They  _understand_ how I feel, they don't blame me . . . They were just waiting for me to . . . ." Yuuri says through sniffles, breaking down at the end. Viktor pulls him in to his chest and feels Yuuri cry tears of relief.

Eventually Yuuri sighs away from Viktor slightly, still remaining close.

-  _I had to tell them Mari wasn't coming and she wouldn't really consider it, although she's doing well and having fun and making scientific history. That - about her - they know their mistake. My father especially regrets all the fights they had and everything they tried to make her do. It snuck up on them, right? They thought it was still a work-in-progress, but then the next day she was gone._

"That seems too sad," Viktor says. "I wouldn't allow that kind of sadness."

"Me either if I could," Yuuri says quietly.

Gulls cry; there's some light bike traffic. Across the river, city lights are humble but numerous.

"They asked me if this was going to be over soon. I had to say I couldn't tell. I don't know when Yakov is going to launch Pitfall again," Yuuri continues.

"The Breach will close sooner than later," Viktor says, almost like he's General again, scheduling the feat. (In the back of his mind, he's still determined.)

"And what after, they wanted to know," Yuuri says. "They brought up a good point."

"Yes?"

Viktor can't see well enough to read Yuuri's expression. There is some delay there, but it doesn't waft of hesitation, no, it seems more careful and cherising.

 _Un bel di_ is still stuck in Viktor's head, and it reminds him:

Tienti la tua paura, /  _Hold back your fears -_

io con sicura fede l'aspetto./ _I, with secure faith, wait for him._

What  _is_ Yuuri doing? Yuuri has put a hand in his pocket. He takes out a small bag. He opens it and lets the item inside drop into a waiting palm.

"I'm not sure if you can tell what it is," Yuuri says, a blushing laugh floating from his lips or in the ghost or both, "It's not expensive or fancy or anything - it's a cheap heirloom - just sentiment -" Yuuri holds it up against the sky and Viktor can see it's  _a ring. It's a fucking ring,_ Viktor realizes, feeling several explosions going off in his chest and then his head and then happily continuining to every other extremity, Yuuri's still speaking:

" - but - someday, after all this is over, Viktor Nikiforov - will you marry me?"

Yuuri has the ring in one hand, open palm in the other, waiting.

Viktor can at least tell Yuuri's smiling, his hair ruffling in the breeze off the river.

Speechlessly Viktor puts his right hand, gloved, in Yuuri's waiting hand.

Gently removing the glove, Yuuri cradles Viktor's hand, there's a small tremble, ring poised to slip on, and Yuuri looks back up at Viktor, for final confirmation.

"I-ah-I," Viktor stutters, he can't remember the last time he was  _this_ lost for words, "But I can't cook!" he blurts. Yuuri bursts out laughing. "No really! I can't! And I don't know about grocery shopping or making a house a home or anything, the first thing, about marriage!" Viktor keeps going.  _Oh, he's making such a fucking fool of himself._ Yuuri's still laughing. There's no better sound to Viktor's ears.

"I can cook a little," Yuuri puts in. "So don't worry."

Viktor grounds himself.  _This is really happening, OK, this is really happening. Holy fuck._ He's serious now. "There's nothing better I could do with my life than spend the rest of it with you, Yuuri, if you'll keep on taking me for me, as you always have," he says. Accepts.

"Good," Yuuri confirms. Decisively he pushes the ring onto Viktor's fourth finger.

The ring is made out of a non-precious metal, sort of silver-ish, not a simple band. It's probably the work of a junior artisan. It winds around Viktor's finger in the shape of a dragon. There's some wear at the edges, where it doesn't shine. Worth little, worth much.

Yuuri still has Viktor's one glove in a hand as he drops their grip.

Viktor collects himself: "Well you beat me to it, didn't you, but - you're going to think this is stupid, which it probably is, seeing as how it didn't work for JJ and Isabella, but I couldn't help it -"

Inside of his coat there's a little pocket.

" - after our first mission in the Tango together I just kept it with me. I was only thinking about it. I was waiting, I suppose. I always had it sitting safely in my General's quarters but just as well, no safe storage space in the Ranger bunkers once I became one. Better to keep it on me."

The ring's a solid white-gold band. Expensive. Viktor turns it over in his fingers, and it becomes sharp, clear and glinting as Yuuri's gaze lands on the jewelry.

"After the Karloff attack they never found my father's body. But they recovered my mother's, they sent her rings back to me."

"Viktor . . . " Yuuri whispers softly, but without hesitation, places his hand in Viktor's and lets Viktor mirror the gesture just given to him. After the ring is on, Yuuri lets his hand rest in Viktor's for a moment. "You kept it all this time? You were thinking of me? You were thinking of this?"

"I suppose. Some distant hope. A good luck charm."

"It worked," Yuuri grins.

They lean together and tilt their faces so their lips meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's so frickin domestic lmaoooooooo but i can't be stopped.  
> also I am completely aware I have 3 days left to finish this. (sweats. wip doc at 32K words. gettin there.)


	47. Mirrors

 

 

 

They relax in the onsen that night.

A wave of an emotion Viktor doesn't like coming from Yuuri goes through the ghost between them to see Viktor's chest and stomach and shoulder. Viktor knows his left bicep and deltoid is heavily burned with precise ridges and ledges of the drivesuit. Blotchy bruises further decorated by Kaiju blue staining lance across his abdomen and spread up his chest. Yuuri himself has similar wounding across the area, some bruising and healing cuts on the left knee in addition, but not near as widespread and not near as bad.

-  _Not as bad as it looks,_ Viktor assures Yuuri as they both wrap themselves in the smooth robes provided, but just on time as they step out into the cold night air a twinge of pain races up through him and makes him grimace. At least earlier in the day he had the discipline to do the stretching for his shoulder.

-  _Still,_ Yuuri says.

The onsen is heavenly. Viktor feels muscles relax that probably haven't relaxed for seven years. Warmth soaks into him, through skin to bones.

They're happy to sit and look up at the sky.

"When I was young, whenever I'd feel really anxious, when I got stuck inside my own worries . . . I'd look up at the stars. I wondered if there was life up there," Yuuri says. "But that's the wrong direction, I guess."

"You never know. We could be stuck in a Kaiju-Martian sandwich any day now," Viktor jokes. Yuuri snorts. "There's no chance we're going to the rink and you can skate?" Viktor asks. Steam floats up around them.

"No," Yuuri almost chokes, "I was a lot younger when I could skate! I probably can barely do a waltz jump anymore! Skating's a use it or lose it deal."

"Ok," Viktor says sadly.

"I'm afraid it might hurt too much," Yuuri adds softly.

Viktor understands how that could be true. He doesn't think Yuuri means it in the physical sense.

They don't need words. They just need the ghost, a shifting mix of colours and impressions, an open channel between them, and each other, close in the night time.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Strolling the streets on the west side of town, Viktor and Yuuri walk down a mid-sized alley, arm in arm, bundled against the cold, saying nothing. The occasional bike or passer-by goes past, but it's clear to Viktor by the uninhabited houses and deserted businesses that many have moved on to safer pastures.

Yuuri stops outside a corner building, looking like it could be some sort of studio, with a line of blue windows on first and second floor, white japanese characters laid on glass but wearing off.

_Minako's old studio. I spent lots of my time here,_ Yuuri says to Viktor in ghost.

_\- Let's go in. Can we?_

Yuuri takes the house key ring out of his pocket.  _You're in luck. She left my parents the key._ Between fingers and thumb Yuuri jangles out a key with a pink stripe down it. They go to the inset door. Yuuri sticks the key in and opens it.

Viktor hits a nearby lightswitch in the dim interior of the reception room. No electricity. Yuuri takes his hand and leads him confidently down a hall, past what might be a change room and shelves for storing equipment, up stairs.

They enter a studio room set in the corner of the room, panelled with windows on two sides and mirrors on the other two, bars for ballet exercises, Viktor concludes.

Cool light slants in and shines on the floor, only a skiff of dust touching the wood, likely starved for the touch of non-stale air that sweeps in along with the two visitors. Shadows of backwards kanji create darker patches. No lights, but enough light to see by.

They step quietly and, almost reverently, on Yuuri's part, into the ever-so-quiet studio. Dust swirls around their steps in the afternoon light.

Viktor senses or feels some muscle memory in Yuuri that makes him pause, his posture straighten with elegance.

Viktor moves so he's got the advantage of the mirrors. And this is the magic he's been waiting for: Yuuri moves through first, second, third, fourth, fifth position, pliés, looking into the mirror the whole time, and so his entire lovely form clears and illumines Viktor's view.

Of a sudden Yuuri looks back to Viktor, leaning almost in the corner of the windows.

"Don't stop," Viktor says with no forethought, a definite plea. "I can see you."

"Oh," Yuuri says, a little breathless. "I'm not any good any more I suspect, though."

"Yuuri," Viktor lilts, chidingly.

"All right, all right," Yuuri submits. "I practiced this routine lots here before hitting the ice. It's a story."

He begins with a hip cocked, gaze down. Then, arms swirl up and around him, curving along the outline of his waist briefly, and he's off into twirls and pivots and oh-so-clear, colorful motion.

How long has Viktor been waiting to see Yuuri dance again since that pirouette contest between him and Minako so long ago (though it isn't really  _that_ long ago, just feels like it?) in the K? Much too long. And this is a much better show than that night.

Music  _would_ be nice. But it's not essential. In fact there's something, about Yuuri's breathing and the light thumps as he hits the floor from whatever sort of fancy jump these all are, balance perfect to Viktor's eye, the swish of fabric with his motions, that makes Viktor's attention hold all the stronger. Maybe there's a catch in fluidity here and there, but Viktor can't tell. He's absorbed in the act of the watcher, eyes going to the mirrors where Yuuri spots himself and reflected gazes connect there in moments between steps of the dance.

Yuuri launches into a sequence of pirouettes, fierce and near perfectly spotted, an exacting rotation. Viktor looks up and down, the way his feet move to keep him up and launch him from one 360 to the next, the poise of arms, the flying of his black hair -

\- Then it's over too soon and Yuuri ends with left hand at right shoulder, angled and up, right hand wrapped to left side. He's panting lightly. He stumbles off balance a little and drops everything.

"That must look really stupid. I'm not as slim as I was. I'm better for lifting stuff and punching things now, not ballet," Yuuri comments laughingly. But when he reaches the end of his sentence, Viktor is there wrapping his arms around his lower back and one traces up slowly.

They hold each other. Viktor feels Yuuri relax into him. Every muscle, every curve and angle. Viktor's one hand runs up and tangles into the back of Yuuri's hair.

"I can tell you love it," Viktor says.

"I  _do_ love to dance," Yuuri says, and it comes out as a whisper, maybe not intentional.

Yuuri's warmer than the light at Viktor's back.

Again, the light, dusty silence is all they need, aside from each other.

"Thank you," Viktor says as they leave, eventually. Time is an ignored commodity. He hopes Yuuri can see the stars in his eyes, because Yuuri should know that watching him is his whole universe. "I . . . you . . . look, that was beautiful. You are."

They leave the shade of the door alcove after Yuuri locks up and they step into the light; rings glint.

"I would usually refuse the compliment," Yuuri says after a thoughtful pause. "But I like hearing it from you." The statement's low and true.

"I like saying it."

"Good, then."

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When they leave, when they're on their way back, after only two days, it seems like they've taken two weeks off.

They've tried to avoid the news, but Yurio's solo piloting is  _all_ over. And with that rises the prestige of Black Tiger - by some, they're welcomed. To others, they're a threat.

Yuuri admits although it was no comfortable move to make the trip, it was good for him, and he's glad he went to see his parents finally.

_-Back to saving the world,_ Viktor jokes as they take off from Japan.

_-We're not doing too good a job of that._ Yuuri's been reading news updates at the airport.  _No alliance yet between PPDC and Black Tiger. The Phillipines are having a huge crisis; people are fleeing the country; homes are collapsing underwater . . ._

_-We're just two people._ Viktor wraps his fingers in Yuuri's. There's a lovely new habit of waking up and admiring his ring, making it flash in the light.

_-The Breach has to be closed,_ Yuuri says determinedly.  _There's a lot of diagnostics happening on Japan's Wall - and the economic reports aren't looking good - I tried to convince my parents to move somewhere else, around the Atlantic, but they won't! Their lives are here, sure, but they're in danger and they won't move . . ._

_-Stubborn, hm? Wonder where their children got it from,_ Viktor teases to stop Yuuri, before his anxiety can jump up.  _I want to get the Breach closed too. We'll find a way._

_-Overconfidence. Right,_ Yuuri says. Sounds like a reference to something Viktor doesn't get.

And Viktor doesn't know what way that is, but he has complete belief. No, not in himself: in him and Yuuri together. They're pieces of the puzzle, he feels. It's destiny.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

When they return to the Black Tiger Institute, Mari asks them a cursory  _how'd it go_ and that's it - until she notices first  _Viktor's_ ring and then inspects Yuuri for his. She jumps on both of them with a congratulatory hug and tells them very sternly to make sure to survive until the wedding, whenever it's supposed to be.

Then they're back on task. Breach scheduled to open in two days. Apparently Yurio is a local hero and worldwide icon. Viktor can tell Mari's proud of it. Yurio's just the face of the scientific leap.

Mari shows them the Tango in the bay; it's been nearly dismantled, but synthesized into a Kai2 design. Paint job is the same shade of red as Yurio's Kai2, but with saturated blue highlights.

"Should have saved this for a wedding present," Mari says after the fact as the copilots look up at the sleek figure. The Tango's already non-angular skeleton works well with the Kai2 design. And the best part is that they're going to recycle the GD6 chain sword, although Mari says it won't be installed for a while yet. Still working out some bugs.

"You don't need to make wedding references all the time now," Yuuri rolls his eyes at his sister, who just snickers.

Viktor motions to himself as Mari's still standing there, mostly empty bay right now, looks like she's waiting for a reaction.

"I still can't pilot," he says, frustratedly.

"Oh yeah! About that," Mari says, starting to pace importantly back and forth, "I propose we try what worked with Yurio and Yuuri. That is, we split up the load. We toggle it a bit."

Viktor frowns. "Yuuri's obviously the pick for physical control - but for mental as well. What do I contribute?"

"OK, what I've got is you  _both_ going more mental than physical. I'm willing to try it. Even though you guys don't have the lovely connection Yurio has to all things Kaiju, your guys' drift is A+." Mari makes the OK sign with one hand and bobs the gesture forwards emphatically. "I mentioned it to the A-team-"

"You know that name is so corny," Yuuri says.

"Whatever! They don't care. We have fun. Anyways, they built an amplifier circuit that will take some of the physical load off and just use the mental signals to direct motion. Basically, you'll have to move with your heads. Not completely, of course, but you'll have to be a little careful, no RABIT chasing, and you'll have to be really deep in drift. Which I know you can do already."

"Mari, you keep outdoing yourself," Viktor smiles.

"I try," huffs Mari. "I've got enough support now. I would've back at the PPDC if I could've!"

Yuuri looks at Viktor, and in ghost, they know they're so ready for this.

"When do we try?" Yuuri asks.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

"You guys are fucking  _engaged_ now?"

"Oh no, it's just a good luck charm," Viktor slaps on a nice fake smile just for Yurio, who chokes out a scornful laugh,  _chah!,_ going from pointing to Viktor and Yuuri's rings back to his phone.

They're in the room where Viktor, Yuuri, Yurio and Mari dump their stuff, where Viktor and Yuuri sleep. Word has it Lilia's gone to negotiations or some other like meeting, without Chris; throughout the Institute things are rather empty or garrulous in some parts. People are doing what they want. A whole bunch of militia are smoking enough 'ju in a stairwell to cloud an adjoining B-division hall with blue smoke. It's 9 p.m. or so.

Chris enters the room, a glance behind him, and is starting to close the door when Mari also ducks in.

"Alr _ight_ , I claim maid of honor, who's next, come on, this is a wedding planning meeting, right?" Mari starts officiously, but with a snarky grin on her face. This earns an exaggerated roll of the head from Yurio, who just sinks down to a squat against the counter, still on his phone.

"Hm?" Chris says, wearing a silky black jacket with black patterns of roses all over it. He has a wine bottle in one hand and a terrace of wine glasses interlocked in the other. Yuuri's half-covering his face with a hand.

"Maaaariiiiii," Yuuri complains, while Chris goes to Viktor and Viktor shows him the ring, and then Yuuri gives his up for inspection, as well.

Chris is smiling, white teeth, black lashes. "Congratulations! And here I just brought a drink because I thought this was going to be a nice little PPDC reunion. Krug, straight from Italy," he motions with the bottle. Goes over to the counter beside Yurio and sets everything down, pulls a clever-looking corkscrew out of a pocket, pops the bottle open, pours for everyone except Yuuri, who shakes his head: alcohol won't mix well with his medication. "How's Lilia's favorite doing, hm?" Chris pokes at Yurio, who just glowers into the glow of his phone screen and angles himself away.

"Chris doesn't mean 94% of what he says," Viktor informs anyone who will take a word of caution as the Swiss passes out glasses.

"You just don't take me seriously enough," Chris follows.

"How could I? You have always suffered from a severe case of the melodrama," Viktor snaps back in French. Russian, French and English, those three he knows well.

"On the contrary! I am the  _peak_  of all studiousness, of all fastidiousness, I never once have said something off the cuff in my entire life," Chris speaks back in the same language.

"Guys," Mari complains again.

"Sorry, darling, where were we? I shall be best man, then," he says to her.

"Let's get back on track," Viktor clears his throat. Chris throws up his hands.

"Oh, so sorry, General," he says in mock contrition. "Just, please, one toast. To the finest Ranger pair the world's seen." He raises his glass and everyone complies, even Yurio, by stuffing his phone back in his (leather-and-cheetah-print) jacket pocket and standing.

After Viktor swallows his sip of champagne, he begins business. "So, everyone in favor of closing the Breach. Hands up."

Yuuri and Viktor are in agreement. The other three half-raise their hands. Chris not so much. A couple seconds and then Mari shunts hers a little higher.

"Your thoughts, please. Chris," Viktor starts.

"This  _is_  my livelihood, you know. I'm in the same boat as Lilia."

"Do you know how bad things are out there?"

Chris takes another sip of his drink. "Oh yes. Probably more than you do. The next week or two should tell how bad it actually is. We'll see the consequences."

"So how do you reconcile that with your position?"

Leaning his head from side to side as if weighing costs and benefits, Chris responds, "It's really that I doubt the Breach can be closed. There's no easy way to it. Never considered it because it seems like a bit of a fantasy. So why not make the best of what we have now?"

Viktor nods. "Fair enough. Mari?"

The scientist embarks on her explanation. "OK, so it's obvious that if we close the Breach, no more Kaiju come through, and I'm a very sad Mari. But a sad Mari is better than a dead Mari. And if we can grab and totally preserve several good specimens before the Breach goes dark, that's probably a lifetime of work right there for me. I have a conscience too, you know. I don't wanna see thousands of people die in the name of scientific exploration." She lays one hand down in the other repeatedly for emphasis. "There's always a better way to do things. Still, like, Chris, I mean, I  _know_  how to close it. I'm 99% sure."

"You are?" Chris arches his eyebrows.

"Yeah, got it straight from a Kaiju brain. The one that Lilia had on display in Hong Kong."

" _That's_  what that was."

"Anyways, even though it's definitely possible, I don't see how it'll happen."

"Which brings us to Yurio," Viktor says. Lilia's grandson looks up. "What do you think about closing the Breach, and from what you know about Lilia and Yakov, how likely is it to happen?"

At first Yurio shrugs, but then he starts talking.

"I don't really care. Don't think it will happen unless Yakov gets a lot more pilots and a lot more Jaegers. He's never going to work with Lilia, and Lilia's never gonna work with him."

"Hm," Viktor says. "They don't like each other?"

"What do you think? They both say it's the other person's fault, for Lilia leaving Nikolai."

"-I've never heard this before," Viktor says; Chris expresses similar unfamiliarity; Mari goes, "what?", and Yuuri looks like he's interested to hear the story, if he's not surprised.

"It's not public news. But she did. Had something to do with Yakov. And they blame each other," Yurio shrugs.

"Do they  _hate_  each other?" Yuuri asks.

"I don't know. Probably. Maybe. Why are you asking me?"

"Because you happen to be in a very interesting spot for a Ranger, with some interesting connections," Chris observes, his glass emptying a bit more with every sip.

"I'm not even Lilia's biological grandson," Yurio mutters.

Viktor's not exactly surprised to hear that. They don't look anything alike, except for green eyes, and even then, the shade is completely different.

"B-but Sofya didn't  _adopt_ you!" Mari exclaims. "I know that for sure!"

"No, Nikolai adopted  _her_ ," Yurio says.

" _What?!"_ everyone in the room exclaims.

"But Yakov never said-" Viktor starts.

"This is what my mom said, OK? Nikolai adopted her."

"And Sofya said this _before_ she went crazy?" Mari probes.

"Yeeeah," Yurio says, like he wouldn't have mentioned anything unless that weren't true. "It doesn't matter anyway."

"Why did Yakov never say anything? I'm sure it must have come up. Of course it did, when we were reviewing cadets for your acceptance! Why would he. . . " Viktor's finger-combing his hair with his free hand.

"Lilia says she and Nikolai didn't think anyone needed to know, I guess. To them, my mom was as good as their daughter," Yurio says, still doing something on his phone.

"Hm," Viktor huffs.

"So Yakov obviously still respects Nikolai," Yuuri comments.

"Thinks he does," Yurio responds sharply, and then clams up.

"Nikolai didn't want you to pilot, did he?" Yuuri asks softly. But Yurio won't answer. Apparently he's done with the subject.

-  _It would explain Yakov's protectiveness towards Yurio_ , Viktor adds in ghost to Yuuri.

Bubbles on the sides of glasses float to the surface and pop. The group stands around quietly for some moments.

"And why do you want to close the Breach?" Chris asks Viktor and Yuuri.

They glance at each other.

"It doesn't matter what label's around your neck or whose side you're on," Viktor says, and smoothly Yuuri picks up the thought which is a bright comet trail in ghost, "you're in this to do the right thing. Which is to protect humanity."

Chris sticks out his bottom lip a little and nods into his drink, as if reminiscing. "What do you need to close the Breach?" he asks Mari. "Just for knowledge purposes."

"I remember when I told someone what I needed to do something they just made sure it was out of reach," Mari says accusingly at Viktor, who laughs.

"Hey, I don't have that kind of power anymore," he says.

"Well, it's really a matter of the Breach only letting Kaiju biosignatures through," Mari concedes to explain. "I'm betting it would have to be an active signature too, so a live Kaiju. And since the Breach has expanded so much, I would think you'd need a couple loads of explosives running in to be sure of closing it," Mari says, setting her empty glass on the counter and fiddling with her tie.

"Interesting," Chris says. "We'll have to see what the next week or so brings. Anyways, I don't want to be missed elsewhere." He nods a goodnight and leaves.

"I'm out too. Uh, let me know, I guess? What happens? We're still waiting, right? And I'm still having fun making Kai2s and learning stuff about that. Take your pills, Yuuri! 'Night," Mari says, leaving as well. Yurio trails her out.

Viktor's got his knuckles to his lip, thinking. He thinks the rest of the evening through, before he falls asleep, Yuuri beside him.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

When Lilia returns, she catches up with her grandson. Everything is going well. He is enjoying the opportunities she's given him. He's also got news about the two newest Black Tiger arrivals. Sensitive cases. Allegiances yet soft.  _How are they enjoying their stay here_? Lilia asks. It is her prerogative, after all, as master of the network, to make sure everyone under her fits their form and function.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i'm really REALLY close to finishing writing this. ARGGGG i am at the final climax. pretty much. I SWEAR I WILL HAVE THIS DONE BY MONDAY  
> also this chap is a fav. i went back and stuck the dancing in cause im weak for that scene.


	48. It Grows Late

The most recent mission is a terrible report, despite its relative success. There's a huge variety of footage all over the world mostly depicting the Kai2, and several shots of its singular pilot, identifiable as Yuri Plisetsky, grandson of Nikolai Satina. Speculation runs wild. Faith in the Jaeger program keeps dropping after its short-lived spike. And most importantly, seismic waves cast outward from the recent breach rupture, reaching a 6.3 along the west coast of Mexico and around a 4 or 5 elsewhere. Where people haven't fled inland, the water pushes them.

There are calls for protection. There are no calls to close the Breach. That's too much of a fantasy for most people to talk about. And anyway,  _protection_ might make some rich people richer while they're at it.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Viktor Nikiforov is invited to Lilia's office again. He's stronger, he's healed quite a bit since he last sat in this chair. The room has also accordingly matured; no more move-in boxes. The original office aura of the room has been overwritten with decor that convinces Viktor he's in a room of an expensive hotel, antique east Asian influences everywhere. This he can tell even half-blind, without Yuuri.

"I see Mari has developed a method allowing yourself and Katsuki to pilot the rebuilt Kai2. I hope you will find the experience refreshing, compared to a Jaeger," Lilia greets him. Her tone is sedate as usual. She has a feathered boa winding around her neck and under her arms, resting on her chair, which is now in the same style as Viktor's. He can't tell what color this attire is, but he'll bet it's gold or red.

"Thank you," Viktor replies, "I'm sure I will.". He's not sure what to feel about Lilia yet. He's heard Yurio's side of the story, and from Yuuri, he knows Yurio for sure sides with Lilia. But he also knows that Yurio has never really had anyone to trust, so he could be misguided, in desperation. Or - he could be right. Even this situation, met with such acceptance, is a far cry from what Viktor can imagine from Yakov. Viktor's told Yuuri why he and the Marshal really fell out. The truth hurts. So he may be less  _sure,_ sitting across from this authority, but he's more comfortable.

"I trust you had a good visit to Japan?" Lilia continues.

"We did," Viktor confirms.

"Excellent. Welcome back. A-division has mentioned that you and Yuuri will be piloting in our third mission," Lilia says. "I am glad we have your experience and expertise."

"I'll have to let Yuuri take credit for most of that," Viktor says, cracking a small smile.

"It takes two," Lilia returns. "The same network that interviewed you before would be interested in having you on again. Possibly with your copilot."

"I'm not sure the world needs to hear from me," Viktor says noncommittally. "There's already enough of a stir from the first release. Accusations against the PPDC. As soon as I step into a Kai2, I'm connected with Black Tiger, and it makes negotiations that much harder."

"We  _are_ working towards a deal," Lilia says, "As we always have done. You know that. I believe circulating the full story about recent events will shed light on our negotiations. The scales tip fairer."

Viktor thinks of what he's guessed and planned. Perhaps inflating the presence of Black Tiger could push the Jaeger program to a desperate alliance.

"Let me talk to Yuuri," he says, accepting.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

There's a terrible report of Altin's waveforms from the most recent mission. The drift with Emil Nekola was rough, and it seems like Emil tries to repair the camaraderie, but to no avail. Altin is unreachable, stone-faced as ever, though his dark gaze lengthens at times.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

(Yesterday, 11:23 a.m.)

 **golden** : Having fun, are you?

(Today, 9:57 p.m.)

 **Yuri:** what the fuck does that mean?

the fuck anything u say means?

m blocking u

im

(Today, 10:12 p.m.)

 **Yuri:** i can tell ur jealous. because u texted me. fucker

golden: Grow up, Yuri.

 **Yuri:** fuck u

golden: Grow up and come back.

 **Yuri:** i said im blocking u

what, coming back, to u? why the fuck i'd do that

 **golden** : Also, I should have talked to you about what you were hiding in the drift earlier, instead of ignoring it. I'm sorry. I don't like what happened between us. It's both our faults. I didn't mean to hurt you. Or scare you.

Come back, because you might want to?

 **Yuri:** should have fuckin apologized to my face

 **golden** : I should have. It takes me a long time to work out what to say properly.

 **Yuri:** also u have no fucking clue what i want

and u still want me back? but not for a copilot , just for what, fucking with? fucking?

 **golden:** I want you back after you've been gone.

 **Yuri** : the fuck. ur the one who called me a jerk with issues an dshit.

 **golden** : It's true.

(Today, 10:25 p.m.)

 **Yuri:** well ur not any fuckin help are u

 **golden:** No, I'm not. Help yourself, Yuri.

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Plisetsky's in his room tonight. He clutches his phone to his chest, his sleep shirt already rumpled, his blonde hair a mess. The light diffuses into the fabric. He's sitting, rocking back and forth on top of the covers. Breath comes in almost sobbing inhales.

Late night is a good time when feelings you've been running from can catch up to you.

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"You have nightmares, right? How do you get rid of them?"

Yuuri Katsuki is up on the top floor hallway by himself, staring out into the darkness, the lights of Yakutsk in the distance. He turns to the sudden voice; it's Plisetsky, having entered as soft as a cat.

"Well, yes, I have . . . I take medications. I had to try a few. These seem to work," Katsuki answers the questions. "It's late." He raises an eyebrow.

"No shit, I can't sleep in a bed like a normal fucking person, I'm trying though."

"Go sleep in the reactor then. It's usually on for data gathering."

"No!" Plisetsky jabs his fingers in his hair and jerks tangled strands out and away from his scalp. "You understand? It can't always be like this! I gotta - gotta find some way."

"Did you sleep well before the Cherno's reactor?" Katsuki asks. Placidly he looks out the window-panelled wall.

" _No,_ not since my father - my mother - she went - I got in the Academy - you know, all that shit. All that fucking shit."

"That sort of thing would do it," Katsuki agrees grimly. "In the Academy? You didn't get any support for that?"

"You think I'd fucking tell anyone? I just locked my door at the Academy so hard every night. Still don't know what happens if I wake up in the middle of one."

"They're vivid, the nightmares?" Katsuki turns to Plisetsky, who nods his head, sincere.

"I know it's just all my fucking head, but it  _feels_ like it's real and I can't move my body, you know, to get up or run away or make noise, so at least no one hears me scream but I can't live like this! Fuck no! Not for my whole life!  _argh!_ " He's breathing hard.

"OK, well, you probably need to get actual professional help," Katsuki advises.

"Impossible right now!" Plisetsky bursts.

"Yes," Katsuki agrees. "You might have to just sleep in the reactor for the time being."

Plisetsky's hands curl into fists by his sides. He walks past Katsuki a little ways, then turns around and returns, then goes back again.

"Why're you up here?" Plisetsky asks.

"I'm just thinking," Katsuki says. "And I really can't sleep. Going back on the meds is making me restless this time around."

"Sucks," Plisetsky says.

"Hm," Katsuki returns.

Plisetsky paces for a time that stretches long enough to become awkward. The air dries and grows brittle with something impending, like the itch that travels down the bridge of your nose when it  _feels like_ you're going to sneeze, but you don't know if it really will happen or not.

"Something else," Plisetsky finally says. Cuts the tension. "If you're fine. With me talking. I just need someone listening. It doesn't fucking work otherwsie." His tone scrapes, like it's been forced to humility by necessity.

"If you want to talk to me, go ahead," Katsuki says with a slight laugh.

"You know if Lilia decides to close the Breach? I don't know about it 'cause I can't  _not_ be a pilot. I don't know what else I'll do. This is all I fucking  _am_. I just went at it so hard in the Academy to try and forget all the other shit, to try and show something. But I can't sleep and I can't take certain people touching me and I don't know how to hold a relationship and - you know, I told you I was fucked up, before, right?" Katsuki nods. "Yeah, see, I'm fucked up, but no one notices, as long as I'm," Plisetsky taps his chest, "this. Pilot. Grandson. 'Kid with connections.' Whatever. I  _might_ want to close the Breach. But I can't. If I could.  _Fuck._ Makes no fucking sense, right? This is why I don't fucking talk." Plisetsky stormily resumes pacing.

"I get what you're saying," Katsuki says after a considerate pause. He huffs a breath out through his nose. "I don't have an answer. I have the same sort of problem for,  _after the Breach, what happens?_. There's Viktor and I, but besides that . . . a question mark. You know I was going to become an Olympic skater before the Academy happened?"

That makes Plisetsky snort. "Really?"

"Yes. But I couldn't go back to doing that now. Too old."

Plisetsky stills to stand beside Yuuri and look out beside him.

"I'm not much of anything behind all this Ranger decor. I don't think. But Viktor does," Katsuki concludes.

"At least you have him," Plisetsky comments, and there's something bitter in his tone.

"You really don't have any friends from the Academy? You and Otabek were in the same year, though. You were copilots. You're friends, at least, right?"

"Ha!" Plisetsky says sharply. "He - I - you won't tell Viktor any of this, will you?"

"No," Katsuki says. "If you don't want me to."

Plisetsky must trust his word, because he continues on. "I told you I didn't tell him any of this shit about my family. I guess one day . . . not that long before Yakov kicked me out . . . we were fucking around after a sim run or something and he touched me, my back, went in with nails digging and I freaked the fuck out and he got so fucking angry and stormed out and then our next drift was shit cause I was still hiding all my crap and when I left he said he didn't want me for his copilot, he didn't  _want_ me to stay and I thought we were done and then he texts me and  _apologizes_ sort of, and tells me to grow up and come back at some fucking vague point and - " Plisetsky cuts himself off, the words spilling out too quickly. It's the only way they'll leave, though.

Katsuki just looks at him listeningly, head slightly to one side, waiting for Plisetsky to get his next thought lined up and out his mouth.

"- that's the closest I ever had to some fucked up kind of relationship. I ruined it. I can't do it. It's just guys. Mari jumping on me is fine. I don't like it but it's fine. And me and Otabek, we were sort of agreeing but the minute it started to hurt - because he's that kind of figure - it was just like -" Plisetsky's breath hitches, "just fucking like -" he struggles, "when my father - took me straight back to  _all the times he-_ " and he completely breaks down, crumples in on himself, face in hands, sobbing angrily. Katsuki squats beside him, still waiting.

"And it wasn't fair of me! I did it to him, to Otabek!" Plisetsky slaps the floor furiously. "And I need it! Yuuri, do you know, do you ever feel so  _fucking_ bad, you need  _touch_  so  _fucking_  bad but you can't take it? To be closer but you can't do it?" Plisetsky's voice slides and cracks.

"Forever," Yuuri says quietly after a stop-gap pause. "That's why I left after Phichit died. I needed someone in my head again, it was so empty. The loneliness hurt. But I wouldn't tell anyone. I didn't think I did, anyways . . . well, I got drunk and let it slip to Viktor. And then I forgot everything and ran off to the Wall, to hide from my problems. But he came back for me, you know?"

"You're so fucking lucky." Plisetsky looks at the floor, swiping his eyes repeatedly.

"I am," Katsuki agrees wonderingly.

"So, get drunk? That's your trick?" Plisetsky says, tone curbed with sarcasm.

"Maybe," Katsuki half-laughs. "No. Just tell the truth. And give it some time. I guess. I told you, you need  _professional_  help."

"Yeah," Plisetsky says, standing.

The expression on Katsuki's face to hear this statement is one of surprise. He stands as well.

"I think Otabek means the  _time_ part," Plisetsky mutters to himself, turning to leave. "I'll see you. Next time I want to have a fucking mental breakdown."

"Oh, we were just talking," Katsuki tosses to the blonde as he leaves.

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(Today, 10:54 p.m.)

 **Yuri:**  i just dont want u to have to care about how fucked up i am. u shouldnt have to know. didnt tell u in the drift.

maybe ill 'grow up' and the breach will close itself

blocking u as promised. night

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The Tango looks completely different on the inside. Viktor feels so oddly  _free_ in these light drivesuits. He feels young again, like he's still part of the next generation: the cockpit is so smooth and well-designed. Extra equipment and controls are jointed into its curved walls. The oblong window affords a field of view so large Viktor thinks he'll forget he's in a moving machine.

The neural handshake goes through and at first there's just an elation, the equivalent of running into each other's arms after a long separation. The drift is complete, a far cry from how they last left it, desperate in a dead machine. And next, there's a burst of joy from Viktor, because  _everything_ is clear and colorful, not just where Yuuri's looking. It's so much deeper than the simple ghost.

After some adjustments they seriously set themselves to the task of moving the Tango reincarnated. (What to rename it? Mari's hung up on Tango Victory. It's not  _too_ bad, in Viktor's opinion, sort of a mashup of him and Yuuri's names. Better than the Tango Engagement or Tango Wedding as Mari also put forward.)

Of course it's very strange. Resistance to motion is minimal. Instead, there's an aching demand in the drift. They volley together and craft exact mental instructions for the machine. The motion's predetermined.

And it works. 30% suit mechanics, 70% pons relay.

This Ranger pair has something no other does.

And when the Breach opens, the Kai2 and the Tango Victory run their mission perfectly. Swoop in, help the PPDC Jaegers rather accidentally while gathering their prizes, alien dead weight, beeline back out.

Not so fast that watching cameras don't catch them, of course. This is the point.

The same day, a segment airs and spreads like a virus to other news outlets: the same interviewer who had hosted Viktor Nikiforov returns with the same guest  _and his copilot,_ Yuuri Katsuki. So no mistake can be made about who was piloting the revamped Tango.

No mistake indeed.

The leader of Black Tiger does not count her gold, she counts her time. And she listens to the many mouths trained to tell her what they know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as i sit here. I promise. I AM FINISHING THIS THING. its today or never. i'm typing furiously. i WILL DO IT


	49. In Hand

Things happen the pilots don't know much about, or are not allowed to know.

Behind closed doors, in jacket-pockets and security vehicles, correspondence ferries between Black Tiger and the PPDC. Packages of papers, terms and conditions. No one agrees and nothing quells the discourse and political upheaval spreading. The PPDC pulls harder on its UN ties. UN member countries either meet demands of support or don't. On April 2, 2025, the United Kingdom leaves the UN alliance, the major issue being they're paying for making Jaegers they've never seen, to defend an ocean they don't border.

This strains ties with the Americas. France follows the UK four days later. Protests rise up in surrounding countries. Skirmishes light alarm up and down the east coast of Africa, where several Black-Tiger-affiliated refinement facilities run. Russia's under pressure; an election's around the corner and its geographic situation threatens to tear it apart ideologically. On top of this, some Rim countries damaged by the recent tsunamis and quakes struggle for aid, affecting their allegiances. Requirements for raw materials are up and bric economies experience a burst of productivity; as Kaiju parts flow into Black Tiger's hands, affluence spreads down through their network and travels farther into the world where the organization has put down roots.

Globalization is challenged by the threat localized around the Pacific Ocean; economies are so intertwined that tying them down to the locations most available to the need sites threatens to break those more distant. And those countries are forced to offer cheap deals in order to keep heads above water, but news anchors and economic specialists and people having a barbecue in their yards discussing the spiking price of everything know it's not a permanent fix.

The Breach sites are active. The PPDC has enough funds to shore Jaegers back up quickly and send them out. But money can't buy pilots, and they'll need to wait for new Academy trainees to launch Pitfall's sequel. Upper bureaucrats are happy. The longer they can suck more money out of the UN agreement, the better.

But inside the PPDC, there's a restlessness that grows again after the initial tide of accomplishment. Money's running slowly. Not running dry, but slowly. And that's precisely because of Black Tiger. The alternative is turning international heads away from the PPDC. The Breach spits out Kaiju and the Jaegers have to go to intercept them because otherwise the Jaegers head up north towards where the Kai2s wait. And most of the time, the Kai2s show the Jaegers up, swoop in at the end, make carcasses and grab them. This occurs for two missions. The most interaction between pilots is a glance or impression, a turning of a machine's head, in salute or curiousity no one can tell, but it doesn't really matter. Everyone's hands are tied by their masters, but no one hurts another.

By now it's obvious Russia is harboring the Black Tiger's base. It's become a pivotal issue for the Black Tiger members planted in Russia's government and the PPDC as well. Meeting with the UN, the PPDC puts forward some radical plans. Discussed, and disagreed upon at first.

However, over this period of time, it becomes clear that Black Tiger isn't going to close the breach any time soon, though maybe they could, and the economic and social damage making worldwide waves from the quakes and tsunamis relentlessly pounding the Pacific Rim is taxing to deal with. Death tolls rise, infrastructure crumbles, trade is interrupted, and prices jump higher for the cost of getting day-to-day goods into danger zones, where people don't have that kind of money. Quality of life depreciates rapidly around the Rim; refugees flood outwards, inciting more political conflict. So the UN is beaten down. It's really the only option after so much negotiation with no results.

_Why can't the Jaeger program and Black Tiger work together?_ is the global question, and almost no one knows the answer, because it goes back in the history of their two respective leaders.

In sync, as the election looms closer; United Russia is desperate for support and the integral PPDC supporters (America, Germany, Japan, China and Australia) are willing to provide it (allowed to provide it, now) on a condition.

Hands off the Black Tiger's base; let them in, let the PPDC bring the negotiations to them.

And United Russia agrees.

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A  _bwoooOOOOOOOOOOOO, bwooooooOOOOOOOO_ alarm wakes Yuuri instantly from sleep and drags Viktor out of rest as the ghost snaps urgently into place, Yuuri shakes him.

"Wha . . . " Viktor says, automatically getting up out of bed, like his body has been trined to do with Kaiju events coming in at unexpected night hours throughout the years. Yuuri's even better at that.

White lights flash in the corners of their room and one on the ceiling. Immediately they pick up on muffled sounds of explosions or something being done to the building.

Viktor fumbles to grab his jacket that's hanging on the edge of the other counter. By feel he touches Yuuri's jacket and slings that to him. Yuuri's pulling on a shirt and then dons the outerwear, slaps on the lights.

Wordlessly they head out into the hallway, almost running smack into a vaguely familiar technician with a tattoo curling dark around one eye.

"Come on, we need to move the Kai2s outta the bay," she says. "Air raid or somethin'."

People rush in the halls. Most run a tide against them. The alarm continues to blare.

The bay isn't far. Yurio materializes at their side, and then Chris, jogging along with them.

"What's going on?!" Viktor says to the Black Tiger second-in-command, over the whooping alarms, as they jostle past a group of armed, ragtag militia.

"Think it's the PPDC," Chris says. "They're targeting the bay, we're moving the Kai2s and your Tango out, I have cover for you but we need you to get in and move them out of danger."

A bass  _boom_ shakes the building. There's a screeching of metal somewhere. Panting, they arrive at the caution-striped bay doors, and Viktor glances back to see they do have some protection, Black Tiger members with the insignia on scarves around their necks, all holding - all holding what Viktor is immediately sure are EC0.0001 refined models.

Chris tugs everyone back to give half of the little squadron, about 30 men and women, first entry, then nods to say they can all follow.

A hole has been torn in the southeast corner of the bay roof, which has folded inwards, ripping out the wiring of working floodlights, leaving the corner dark compared to the rest of the room. Already several men and women equipped with clunky but powerful-looking weapons climb peripheral levels to get shots through the opening; Viktor's ears are immediately assaulted by the noise of multiple jet engines that swoop overhead. The bay door is open on the northwest side and all the vehicles stored here swarm out like ants, people rushing to and from.

With a heavy  _BANG_ there's another reverberation somewhere else on the roof and everyone instinctively ducks. Debris falls to the floor. The sound of gunfire  _chock-chock-chocks_ overlays through yelling, engines, wheels moving.

"Go! Get in there! If you want a Kai2 to pilot, go! We're moving them out to the bunkers!" Chris urges Viktor and Yuuri and Yurio, all of them sandwiched by the squadron with them. The huge scrolling door out which the Kai2s exit is being drawn open, the chain roll  _ka CHINK, ka CHINK ka CHINK_ as it reveals more and more night air.

Maybe in this moment Viktor and Yuuri realize just how much they have lost already, how free they float, because this mad dash seems like quite a sane course of action. But Yurio has got them beat, reached the conclusion faster, and they're following him.

So they break into a beeline across the concrete floor, militia in front of them and behind, passing the command desk quickly where the Triple is hitting switches and typing on consoles.

The goal in ghost between Viktor and Yuuri are the drivesuits they can see stored in their mind's eye, placed inset in the hub of the Tango Victory.

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Good thing these suits are easier to put on than the Jaeger drivesuits. Viktor and Yuuri struggle into the base, neural suit; cocooned in the hub, the noises of motion, attack and defense come in muffled all the same. Everything boots up; the window overlay crawls on; the MHeart thrums and veined wiring along the hub wall lights up.

Light armor is easy to put on oneself but for the spinal interfaces they need each other.

"This thing on? Does Yurio need someone to put on his flowsuit?" Viktor hollers into the comm that isn't on him yet as he unlocks Yuuri's spinal interface from its dock in the wall storage and nods at his fiancé (copilot).

"We cool, fam, Mari's got it," one of the Triple says back. Then Viktor hones his focus to make sure Yuuri's mind will be successfully connected with his and the machine's; every port matched, everything locked in correctly. He works close at Yuuri's back, frustrated because he can't see properly and he has to go by feel and they need to  _hurry up;_ anger at himself easily boils over in ghost to reach Yuuri.

Oh, he  _hates_ this new incapability, this handicap, and he knows he hasn't dove far enough into himself to really meet the inadequacy.

" _You can do this, Viktor,"_ Yuuri says softly, and it catches Viktor mid-burn and freezes him, takes him back down. Makes him breathe again. Somehow everything's done up, Viktor's breath close against Yuuri's head and brushing down his neck. Then Viktor turns and Yuuri snaps his in. He can feel the efficient clipping sending little vibrations through the fabric of the neural suit into his skin.

They dock. The neural handshake goes through. Drift engaged. But just as they're about to move -

"Wait, just got word they've covered our bunker. They're targeting it. How did they  _know?!_ " comes through the comms from Chris. "Hold up, guys."

Then there's a huge  _BOOMING_ explosion that rocks the place. Viktor and Yuuri are knocked flat on their backs, but they keep their minds on task. Their vision is just a blur of black and grey and brown, flashes of debris. Hefting themselves up and feeling the machine respond, they throw a huge panel of ceiling off them, disentangle a leg from pipes and stumble up. Immediately a bright fire attracts their attention; something's blown along the bay wall and is spreading flames quickly. Almost all the the bay roof has caved in due to whatever explosions the air raiders dropped - across the settling dust, Yurio's Kai2 is a mirror of their own, posture undecided. They don't have good weapons to combat invading aircraft; around them the small figures of the other bay inhabitants scramble out and away.

Viktor and Yuuri jump aside as a plane comes twirling weightily down from the sky, pluming smoke and flame, planting itself into the concrete and shattering the dense floor out in a web of cracks.

"Yurio!" Yuuri yells into the comms as both the Kai2s steady themselves, looking for shelter, finding nothing adequate for their giant frames.

"I say we fucking throw shit at these," comes Yurio's voice through the comms, and his Kai2 gestures up into the sky. The attackers seem to be swinging around quickly for another shot.

The Tango Victory looks behind; there is a small ring of anti-aircraft weapons that dots around the northern perimeter of the institute.

"Don't get in their way, protect the defenses," Viktor says shortly.

The raid fleet seems to be well-coordinated and has pivoted in the moonlit night sky, swinging back around like a threatening storm. On the other hand, the Black Tiger jets that  _are_ in the air zip to and fro without coordination, firing and being fired upon.

Part of the attacking fleet splits off towards the bunkers. The other part continues low for the Institute, the Kai2s in their way. At least at first that's what Viktor-Yuuri thinks. But then there are bright staccato puffs of long-range weapons detonated and Yurio's already swiping up a giant piece of the bay roof, hefting it up as a shield and moving quickly off south, out of the bay through a destructed wall.

"Get the fuck out of here! They'll blow the Institute down too!" Yurio's yelling. "Can't you see, they're aiming for  _us!_ "

The Tango Victory hears too late and indecisively hunkers down below the one remaining section of the bay wall, crushing machinery and vehicles remaining there in the process. Projectiles from the raid fleet blast into Yurio's shield and the Tango's protection, and some over her head through to the Institute itself - glass shatters, smoke and flame burst out.

As the enemy planes pull up sharply like angered wasps, the Tango furiously hefts the jet that's fallen inside the bay and swings it mightily up into the air as only a beast of its size could do. The MHeart pumps furiously, arteries rushing with energy, and the dead jet flings into sky like one would toss a baseball, impacts two of the raid jets and brings them all down again in a deadly, thick firework.

"FUCK YEAH!" Yurio yells with a lot of fuzz through the comms and both Kai2s sprint out into the open lot beside the Institute. The Tango ducks under a few missile plumes. Meanwhile, Yurio's Kai2, a deadly dark crimson lit up in shining strips by the moon and by its own circulatory system, stoops to grab the tail end of one of the newly-collapsed jets as its other end flames away. He does an excellent job of batting away a sheet of projectiles levvied at the pair of mechs, while the Tango searches for something else to lob into the sky, creating a row of suspended explosions in the air and jumping back from it. The Tango rises up from behind of this orange-to-black wall and chucks a quick pair of transport trucks that it accidentally stepped on anyways; maybe it misses what it wanted to hit but one successfully impacts another offending plane that quickly plows down several hundred meters south.

"Let's grab and go," Viktor says. The Tango whips up a large shred of bay wall with wires and plumbing and steel rods sticking out of it, Yurio rips a corner of the remaining foundation out of the ground (almost falling over with the recoil) and then they're drawing the fire away from the Institute itself, with precious little time before the fleet of raiding jets can reform.

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The control room of LOCCENT has not only Marshal Yakov Feltsman standing at the controls, but also several PPDC higher-ups, dressed in light gray uniforms which make them easily distinguishable. In fact, there are two men who arguably are higher-ranked than the Jaeger program's Marshal, and it's clear they are more in command of this mission. The Hong Kong shatterdome is only hosting the party.

"Lieutenant General, clear ground troops one and two for approach," says one of the men who's above the Marshal's designation, and another PPDC officer obeys. Livescreen feeds give a good idea of what's happening, but all around there's communication and chatter. In some cases, the LOCCENT equipment could easily be used to talk to non-Jaeger entitities, but in some cases, other PPDC materials have covered up the usual switches, lights and dials.

"Get them in. Second air crew prepare at perimeter. Are we patched in to their lines?" questions the highest-up again. General, but the distinction is different in the strictly military line of the PPDC.

"Yessir!" someone answers.

"Jet down, sir," reports someone, and two seconds later, the same again. "Second air crew's giving cover."

"Lost 35% of air cover, sir," updates another. Decisions move quickly, top down. Order this, order that.

"Air units, stay out of range," is the command, meaning, the range of the Kai2s' throwing arms. Which is fairly far. "Second air crew, approach!"

"Ground crew moving, sir!"

"Southeast face encountering resistance."

As the Kai2s draw off away from the Institute and the PPDC jets attempt to snipe from afar, it's clear that they're using their industrial shielding quite effectively. Still, if all the aircraft were concentrated on shooting the metal beasts down, they likely could. But most are heading back to the Institute. The Kai2s have brought down enough planes that they have a thin stock of ammunition to return to the air, hurling burning aircraft through the night.

On the ground, swarms of troops that had approached by an outcrop of trees cover the tundra, closing in on the Institute. A skirmish stirs the antish, crawling figures at one entry, but their numbers are large.

As soon as the Kai2s turn back towards the Institute, seeming to notice the PPDC's efforts are concentrated there, the PPDC General leans to the mic. A missile explodes on the back of one of the Kai2s, but it clearly doesn't leave much of a mark.

"Patched in, sir!" and as soon as that report sounds, the General speaks:

"Pilots in the  _Kai2s,_ " and the word spits out like a bug you find in your salad, "this is PPDC General Reamus speaking. Your headquarters are surrounded. Please disarm your machines and disengage from battle. "

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At first, the intrusion of static makes the message fuzzy in Viktor-Yuuri's ears,  _did you hear that-what?! -_ but it's clear someone foreign is speaking to them.

They pause their lunge behind their (very tattered) shield to listen.

". . .  _disarm your machines and disengage from battle."_

"The fuck would we do that? You're gonna blow up the Institute? That's real smart," Yurio's reply comes quickly.

"Black Tiger has become a threat to international stability and refuses to reach terms of agreement with the PPDC. As such, stand down, relinquish your  _Kai2s_ and you will be escorted to safety."

Viktor and Yuuri race to some kind of conclusion in the drift. Clearly, ahead of them, the Institute is covered in spotted shadows of the jets that have changed focus from the Kai2s to the Black Tiger research headquarters. Ground troops hold position with little sign of resistance except around one side. There's some motion in the air, but it's mostly picking off the majority of vehicles that have tried to flee to the bunkers. Which, technically, no one is supposed to know about except those of reasonable stature in Black Tiger, and a select few of their Russian ties. (Most people can be bought for a price.)

"You want our Kai2s? You want the Tango back?" Viktor's too incredulous, he and Yuuri both. "You had a chance -"

"Guys, guys, wait, who is this? what's going on?" a new voice patches in, just increasing confusion.

"Mari!" Yuuri yells. "Are you OK?!"

"Yeah, some of us got out to the bunker, but-"

The PPDC General makes her cut out. Viktor knows this is a big deal, Reamus is head honcho. He's got access to all the weapons, he has the arsenal to blot this Institute off the map. He's just been playing with them a little, he doesn't want to destroy them - pretty hard to cover it up, bad image for the PPDC, Viktor rushes to work out - the PPDC now wants all Black Tiger's tech and hard work since Black Tiger wouldn't agree to negotiations, the PPDC will condemn them, force Lilia to say a few pieces, Yakov gets what he wants and  _what about Viktor and Yuuri and Yurio?_ \- they live a nice, quiet life most likely under the watchful eye of the UN. Well, no matter whose fault it is between Yakov and Lilia and no matter  _how_ illegal everything Black Tiger does around the globe is - it's just not fair, because the Kai2s are Black Tiger's and without Black Tiger, Viktor wouldn't be here thinking these thoughts, in fact,  _Viktor-Yuuri_ wouldn't be here, thinking these thoughts.

"You have thirty seconds to accept this final offer until we open fire on Black Tiger headquarters," Reamus says.

" _Guys don't let them destroy it allmycrapisinthere!"_ howls Mari.

"I'm not  _fucking letting Yakov have this!"_ Yurio yells vehemently, blasting the poor comms into epileptic static. " _I'm not getting OUT!"_

_There are too many jets still. Could stomp our way through their ground soldiers - one of us shielding - if only we had the mortar cannons still,_ Viktor-Yuuri thinks.

"Good evening, I hope I've reached the right place, I'm looking for an escort. A couple of giant machine escorts. One should be run by a young, blonde-"

Yet another voice breaks in. No one identifies it but Viktor.

"Chris get  _out of here,_ " Viktor blurts.

"I hope I'm on your private channels. Anyways, tell the computer  _code 42149_ for offensive shutdown. Eject and drop your blades and the MHeart reactor will release through those channels. You'll be dark after. Only works for Tango. Good luck," Chris spews very quickly and very articulately and then it's been 23 seconds, and Yurio's already swiped up the last fallen jet, his Kai2 catching the charred remains of the bay-wall shield as he breaks into a sprint ahead of the Tango.

"Code 42149!" Yuuri's already shouting to the Tango's AI and the hub window overlay understands, with a red exclamation point boxed in a triangle:  _confirm offensive shutdown?_

They bound together. Yurio's Kai2 charging like a solider, weapons of wreckage, shield up; Tango behind, crescent-moon blades ejecting. Fortunately for them, they've not much distance to cover.

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" _They're heading for your position! Air crew, open fire! Ground crew, move out of the way!"_ the order issues from LOCCENT to the hopeful invaders blanketing the Institute. If anyone were watching the Marshal, which they weren't, they would've seen a pass of something ugly across his face which might have been read as fear. In an instant, it's covered up, and he moves urgently to Reamus' side.

"Our Rangers are running those-"

But he cuts himself off because the live feeds on the huge projector screen already show the arsenal of the waiting jets lighting up.

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In the viewing area, Mila and Sara and Makkachin, as well as Leo de la Iglesia (Guang-Hong is in LOCCENT) watch what's happening, blanketed by a surrounding of PPDC visitors who don't fit in LOCCENT and apparently aren't aware that this space is usually For Rangers Only.

Until now, there's been a mixture of reactions. First of all, Black Tiger getting in the way of negotiations and coming in to pick up carcasses, and in some cases,  _save the day_ because you can't beat seven cat-IV or -V Kaiju with four Jaegers, is getting humiliating and annoying, even if it  _is_ Yuuri and Viktor and Yurio in those rogue Jaegers and even  _if_ they haven't had much choice but to be there. The conversation among pilots has said as much. So it  _would_ be nice to get them out, power them down, take the focus away from the Kai2s and the much-hyped Black Tiger and get money flowing back into the Jaeger program. Pretty much everyone on base has said as much.

But second of all, it's clear that the military wing of the PPDC doesn't care much for the pilots of the rogue Jaegers, and when the Kai2s don't stand down and leave them silent but  _charge_ at the waiting fleet and then the order to  _open fire,_ the brief objection from the Marshal-

" _No!_ " Mila screams at the screen, hands extended at her side. Makkachin barks fiercely along and won't stop; Sara grimaces and looks away.

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Time, mercifully, draws out just a touch for the Tango as the AI accepts the command and waits for final notice.

A true-flying horde of projectiles hiss and  _zhhhhhoom_ towards their vanguard, Yurio's Kai2, and he raises what's left of the bay wall.

In this instant, Viktor-Yuuri realize simultaneously how stupid this is but also how inavoidably necessary it is.

Yurio's battered shield lights up from the front, leaving him a silhouette. Some missiles go streaking by as the Tango flattens itelf behind its partner Kai2. The fleet of aircraft has moved forwards, no longer shadowing the top of the Institute, to meet the threat. As his shield disintegrates into charred remains, Yurio lobs it into and past a section of the waiting airforce and brings up the jet in his other hand. Some explosives inavoidably pepper the Kai2's smooth exterior as he swings the dead aircraft in a side ways arc and hurls it, letting go, disturbing the opposing fleet and hitting a few planes too slow to move. More fire, more flames, and then Viktor-Yuuri yells  _"Move aside!"_ because they're close enough now - like a huge hailstorm more of the aircrafts' weapons impact them. But at the same time they extend their arms, open their hands, and feel the MHeart in the Tango's core boost to overdrive. With powerful backlash that makes Viktor-Yuuri dig heels and toes scrapingly into the ground, the Kai2 empties itself of that which keeps it alive. Units that become active in the channels usually reserved for DKTN widen and catalyze the fuel into a thick, bright stream of energy rushing out of the Tango's hands.

Like a beam the copilots direct their lifeblood, sweeping side-to-side through the bank of aircraft. Jets explode like popcorn and the beam vaporizes at the end, otherwise a devouring force, mercilessly illuminating everything in a sharp white-blue cast.

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"Move in  _backup!_ " shouts General Reamus in LOCCENT, fist tight and looking furious to see what's being made of his fleet, not all updates being given because what's happening is all too plain.

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"Oh-  _oh -_  what?!" is Mila's reaction to the charge of the Kai2s and how the repaired Tango lights up. "Oh,  _what!"_

And then to hear the call for backup, she shakes Sara, Makkachin still barking. "Oh, god, no! Sara, they're sending them in! I  _know_ this isn't going to end well!

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The Tango powers down as its all-out assault ends inevitably. Arms slow-close back to sides. But it's worked. The aircraft fleet is gone, obliterated, and luckily because they didn't hold position over the Insitute, the building's been minimally damaged.

Yurio turns back-to-back with Viktor and Yuuri's Kai2 so they can't see him anymore. Minimal electrical auxiliaries are still online in the Tango Victory's hub, including comms, but that's about it.

"Yurio! Is something else coming?" Yuuri asks but receives no reply at first. "You have to tell us, we can't move, we're just a statue now," he prompts desperately.

". . . . It's the Eden Assassin and the Phoenix," comes Yurio's eventual reply, maybe stricken, quite final, tone low.

"- They wouldn't!" Viktor starts. "They're just here to make a deal."

"There are a couple escort jets, nothing like what you just took out," Yurio continues. "The fuck, they're just walking here, the hell do I do - I'm not getting out of here, not now -"

"You might  _have to,_ Yurio, you can't take two Jaegers," Yuuri says, his tone thin with stress.

Then someone patches in to their comms.

"This General Reamus of the PPDC, enemy craft, this is your  _final warning,_ stand down."

"Or you'll  _what?_ " Yurio replies, a panicked sneer if there were such a thing.

"Yurio!" balks Yuuri.

"They won't-" Viktor starts again. "It's Emil and Otabek and-"

"I'm  _not_ getting out of here. I'm  _not,_ " Yurio's repeating, vehemently, the pitch of his voice rising as if he's trapped, though he isn't.

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The Eden and the Phoenix draw abreast, taller than the Kai2s like older siblings, only several hundred meters in front of Yuri Plisetsky's Kai2, shifting weight on its feet, and the back of the still and dark reworked Tango, veins winding around its frame morbidly dark.

"The remaining Kai2 refuses our terms. As ordered," comes the order to Emil Nekola, Otabek Altin, Emil Nekola, Anya Lermontov, Georgi Popovich.

A speck of hesitation in the Phoenix's step, but they're only to subdue, not to wound. They cover half the distance along with the Eden. The live Kai2 remains live.

"You think that's Yurio in that one?" Emil Nekola says to Altin, in the Connpod of the Phoenix.

"It's the same Jaeger," he responds.

"As ordered," the Jaegers are commanded.

That's to remove weapons. That's to threaten. So they do. The Eden's sawblades eject from the Jaeger's back with a  _chUNK!_ and it withdraws the crescent weapons, one to each fist; and the Phoenix's breastplate folds back to show the K-missiles.

But suddenly in a quick motion, Plisetsky's Kai2 has dashed forward in a tackle, seeming to burst in a flight of fear or preconception - it hammers with an elbow into the emerging arsenal of the Phoenix Fist, caving in metal and crushing the projectile systems into failure. Both metal warriors tumble; the Eden Assassin stands as if a shocked passer-by.

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"Order them off! Eden and Phoenix to  _stand down!_ " the Marshal says forcefully to see the impact. Briefly there's no response because everyone's in awe. Such a clashing of twinned monoliths has never been seen or really  _wanted_ to be seen, but now that it's happened, it can't help but be admired.

Then everyone snaps back to reality as the Marshal's leaning for the mic. General Reamus slams a forearm down in his way.

"They are to  _subdue_ our opposition and you had better shut up if you want to retain your authority in this operation, Marshal!" Reamus snaps, going to the mic himself. "Shut down that Kai2!" he commands his remote offense.

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Swiftly, the active Kai2 treads up on the Phoenix, rolls aside with alacrity compared to the heavier Jaeger, snaps out one wide, slim curved blade, and severs a couple of wires bundles at the Phoenix's one elbow joint just as the Sting blade ejects. Due to the sudden injury, the twin points seem to retract loosely, remaining plain metal without their usual superheated glow. As the Phoenix rises, the slightly shorter, much  _faster_ Kai2 ducks back around and makes the same slice to the other elbow.

"Yurio! Yurio what are you  _doing?_ " Yuuri's yelling into the comm, but all he gets are angry huffs and noises of effort.

The Eden lunges in at last, but the Kai2 pivots and steps back, almost into Phoenix's waiting chokehold. Both Jaegers go for a clawing grip at the nimble red Kai2, but Yurio slides out of the way at the last minute, though knocked down by the knee of the Eden.

"Don't fight the both of them, idiot!" Viktor's advising. In the hub of the Tango Victory, the copilots are getting out of their docks and unhooking the armor; the drift's gone but they still move and work together, making for the exit port which is at Viktor's edge of the hub (he's honorary right hemisphere, with his left arm in the condition it is).

As the Eden falls back, it's merely chasing the Kai2 which is squirreling up; Yurio's got both blades up and out now but ducks around, not using the weapons, and probably just as well - the Eden makes a valiant grab at the Kai2 but only wraps around itself with too much momentum to cancel as the Kai2 evades its grasp agilely. But of course, by then, the Phoenix is ready to have another go and pins the Kai2, with a giant step, by one blade, to the tundra-

"I just patched you in to their comms," Mari breaks in to all the Black Tiger pilots' ears, as Yurio furiously wrenches his Kai2 up, twisting the arm, attempting to free himself. The Phoenix bends, a giant stooping, to wrest the smaller mech up.

"Emil! Otabek! Georgi and Anya!" Viktor's hollering into his comms. "Leave it off! Yurio! Leave it off!"

"Yurio, get out of there!" Yuuri accompanies as he and Viktor scramble out and start to dash around the ledge that wraps to the footholds which will take them up on top of the Tango's head. They nearly fall because Viktor stops short,  _fuck! Can't see a fucking thing -_ but Yuuri steadies them, and switches places, he leads as, in the mayhem, they struggle to lead each other to the ghost.

Here, Yurio's propped up an offending Sting-blade by his own, longer blade, sending screeching reverberations enough to make anyone's skin within 5 kilometers crawl. It's some weird trapezoidal shape the combatants are locked in. As the Eden rights itself, it appears unsure how to assert itself.

"We're not here to hurt you," Otabek's tone comes through, accompanied by noise.

"Why the fuck  _wouldn't_  you!" cries Yurio back. The opposing forces the Kai2 and the Phoenix exert on each other suddenly collapse as Yurio's Kai2 alters the angle of an elbow, frees it, and chops down on one of the Phoenix's armored feet, at the joint of the back stabilizers. This lets it free its other blade, but at the minute it scrambles back up, the Eden chucks one of its saw blades straight to the Kai2's head.

Viktor and Yuuri see the windup. "Yurio  _to your left!_ " they yell together, having ascended the Tango.

Just in the nick of time, the Kai2 dives very desperately, very humanly, to its left. The gleaming sawblade weapon  _thunks_ into the hard, snowy ground as Yurio scrambles up. But the Eden's got its other blade ready, and the few jets that accompanied the Jaegers in are lining up to fire. The Phoenix is raising a fist and its Quadfire sleeve opens up, four heat-seeking missiles ready to go.

_It's not Yakov running this. The PPDC's had enough of Black Tiger - they'll blow Yurio's Kai2 to bits, orders are orders, no matter who's inside -_ Viktor realizes with finality. Viktor suddenly hits upon the one thing that might save them all.

"Yurio,  _pick us up!_ " Viktor shouts into the comms, the headset detachable from the drivesuit.

"What the fuck, like-" the Kai2's driven back by a sawblade toss it can't quite evade, glances off the calf, and even as it does so, the Eden's lunging for the first one, stuck in the ground.

_oh NO,_ races panicked in the ghost between the Tango's pilots standing high in the night air as bright, twin signals of projectiles fire off symmetrically from the four or so jets hovering at the Phoenix's side. Luckily the Kai2's synapsed, metal-jointed, synthetically-muscled hand has already grabbed the Eden's second sawblade and in a pure motion, twists up and lobs the huge thing (it probably wouldn't fit in your living room) at the rough column of jets, sending the Phoenix ducking as the waiting aircraft, all but one, explode to smithereens. The remaining one spirals wobbly outward, wingtip flaming.

Strange thing is, the Phoenix has had plenty of time to open fire by now.

"-pick you _up_ in my  _hand?_ " Yurio finishes his question, panting.

" _YES!"_ Viktor and Yuuri shout together, both getting the idea.

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"Open fire! We've given whoever's running the robot enough time!" Reamus commands from LOCCENT.

"Is Yuri Plisetsky in the Kai2?" comes from the Phoenix's pilots.

"Bring it  _down,_ " Reamus hammers out, gripping the mic. "Are all your pilots this unwilling to follow directions?" He sends a venomous look the Marshal's way. But there's no more time to spend on that.

"Three jets down!" reports someone in charge of that, and everyone figures out what the burst of yellow-orange light was on the feed.

"Take the Kai2  _down!_ This is an  _order!_ International safety is on the line!"

In the stuffed room that is LOCCENT, no one's really seated. Most people are half-standing. General Reamus looks about to lose his mind, because  _both_ Jaegers show no sign of engaging.

"Sir, the Kai2's got the Tango's pilots in hand," reports Emil Nekola through the comms.

There's a split second where everyone's gaze goes to General Reamus.

He slams a fist on the desk from short distance. And that says it all.

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"How the fuck is this working?!-" Yurio's running off at the mouth even as he takes the advice he's given and swivels back round to face the Jaegers, as wind slices at Viktor's face with the movement and he and Yuuri grip hard to each other and around Yurio's pinky finger, struggling to find footing across the crevasses of joints and thick wires, planes of striated mechanical muscle that stretch and contract - each finger is segments of a metal tree engineered dexterously together, they're huge.

"They won't kill me. They won't kill us. They can't. That would turn everyone against the PPDC. That's not what they want-" Viktor says breathlessly. "Because word will get out-"

And sure enough, the Jaegers stall.

It's like the fight is about to start again. The faceoff resuming.

Viktor stares to the drooping bat-shape helm mask of the Eden, gleaming green, gridlines crisscrossing, along with Yuuri; switches as Yuuri goes to the Phoenix, two-part, silvery angulary helm. Cloud cover passes over the moon. The atmosphere is so real, as Yuuri and Viktor cling, small as dirt, to the Kai2's (thankfully) steady hand, only airspace separating them from the opposing Jaegers. The Phoenix's arm with the Quadfire sleeve is still up and aimed.

But then?

The arm falls. The weapons rotate and lock back in around the Phoenix's arm. Jaegers retreat. They turn. They walk away.

It's something like a dream.

On the ground, soldiers scurry and trucks rev up, but the giants couldn't care what's going on with the ants below.

In the night air, Viktor listens to Yuuri's breath, feel his attention drawn and held by their attackers, walking away. Yet again, what  _really should matter,_ at least to Old Viktor, flies away from his concerns without an attempt to net them back, and it's just him with Yuuri in the moonlight as the cloud cover passes back out, shedding more light. Under their feet, the floor of the Kai2's hand vibrates with the energy pulsing through its mini reactors embedded throughout its body.

"I'll put you back down," Yurio says through their comms. He does. Inertia, the cut of wind with the rather fast motion, then solid ground. The Tango's copilots still hold each other. "Uh. . . " The Kai2 looks back around to the Institute and the retreating PPDC ground troops, who are having a bit of a tough time, burning and smoking aircraft littered across the tundra. There  _is_ damage to some of the south side of the Institute, and the west where the bay (or, where the bay  _was_ ) adjoins, but not much. " . . . I'll check stuff up there. By the bunkers."

And the Kai2 goes at a brisk walk, heading north.

"Got to love politics," Viktor says with a snort. "Hey, Mari, Chris? You there? They're gone. They're pulling out."

There's just garbled fuzz as an answer. As the edge of the sky begins to bleach a lighter navy blue, Yuuri and Viktor wrap their arms around each other, in the cold, high above the wreckage.

_Zd_ _és' éle dýshyt veterók,_

_sjudá grazá ne daletájet_

_-_ this is what Viktor thinks of, last heard as he and Yuuri slept at Yuuri's parents' onsen, listening to all their favorite music in the evening, of course, Островок made the list. Though it doesn't seem  _quite_ right yet, the last bit, because this is certainly not the last storm they've seen.

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Lilia Baranovskaya is clearly  _incensed._ And Black Tiger responds to the urgency of her anger.

Immediately after everything's clear, there's a long rush of confusion about what to do. The bay's all but obliterated. The fighting on ground level hasn't done much damage but rather caused a stir. Chris runs with orders to withdraw which ragtag troops obey grudgingly. Yurio in the Kai2 does some pickup work for everyone at the bunkers, which have been bombed into disrepair.

Viktor and Yuuri wait for someone to flag them down and then straggle back into the Institute, avoiding the structurally damaged areas. It's chaotic inside. Everyone runs past in random directions, and almost everyone has their weapons out. There are layers of yelling upon yelling; luckily Viktor and Yuuri manage to find Mari and stick themselves inside one of Division-A's work rooms while everything gets put in order outside.

"Oh my god you guys are all  _right!_ " Mari says with relief, throwing herself so she has an arm around each of the Tango's pilots. They stumble then hold her up. "Damn I thought we were gonna get  _wiped out!_ What happened?! Why'd they withdraw?"

Viktor looks to Yuuri who begins explaining, but before he can get very far, Chris bursts in, looking like he's been running around. Whereas others might be frazzled, Christophe Giacometti just looks like a windswept model.

"Lilia wants everyone upstairs. Come on."

They follow him out.

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It's not in her office this time; a larger room has been similarly decorated, Viktor sees through Yuuri's eyes. All mahogany and gold, red, shining and decadent.

Lilia wears a high-collared red dress. Golden dragons sweep out symmetrically from either side of the buttoned front down the long, wide sleeves. The fabric must be heavy; it drapes around her so. The skirt is straight, narrow on her frame. Sharp gold tips of her heels peek out. Her hair is up. Yurio's there, out of his neural suit and dressed in normal ripped jeans and some spiky jacket he probably got gifted by someone in Black Tiger. Besides him, there's Celestino, some other authority figures who run the military and operational sides of things.

"We stand here thanks to the quick thinking of our pilots. Your loyalty is not something to be bought. It seats me more confidently in knowing our goals are worth pursuing," Lilia says, pacing at the front of the room. Everyone stands at sharp attention. Her gaze catches Yurio's, Viktor's, Yuuri's.

"And those goals have been moved up in time," she continues. She pauses at the center of the room. Chris is sitting on the edge of the table closest to her, arms crossed. Noise filters up from the building around them. "I will gather all the resources I can muster. We have information that this assault happened due to a leak in our Russian political connections. No more. We have the prerogative to go on the offense now."

"Hand it back to them," agrees one of the military crew leaders, a man with a tiger tattooed on his bare skull, and others in his league agree.

Viktor and Yuuri glance at each other; they could feel it in the air, even as Black Tiger wounded were wheeled to the medical rooms. The need for revenge.

"The PPDC tries to stabilize international conditions, but they have  _forced_ our  _hand!_  We are staying here. We hold our facilities and move ahead through phase V of the Kai2 initiative."

Mari seems to register shock at this, along with someone else who frequents the bay in the sense of looking at what everyone else is doing on the Kai2s.

"That's impossible, that would take at least six month-" Mari starts blurting.

"Don't underestimate what I have at my disposal," Lilia snaps back. "The PPDC has just made such an error. Until now we have spoken politely from the sidelines. We have been willing to make an alliance! They dare  _spit_ upon our initiative, our work, everything we've given our lives to - make no mistake, the PPDC and the world  _will_ know the true result!"

Agreement goes up from those assembled, excepting Yuuri and Viktor, because in ghost there are cautious murmurs back and forth between the two.

Lilia begins doling out details and tasks. She departs quickly. She has places to go, people to talk to. Chris is to remain in command of the Institute.

Mari scurries off with Celestino, their hands and heads soon to be filled with work. The three pilots hang around back, asking what they're to do.

Chris shakes his head busily. "Keep ready to go. Be available for testing as we repair your Kai2s. Stay out of the way, and out of public sight, I advise, until we know what everyone else out there knows, or what the PPDC tells them. I've got to run."

Viktor nods after him. "Thanks for the tip about the offensive shutdown. You saved us there."

"We all saved us," Chris gestures, then he's off at a smart walk.

Yurio lingers for a few seconds. "That was really weird. But fucking fun. Throwing planes and shit. Never got to do that before."

"You think the Phoenix held back because Otabek was in it?" Viktor asks.

"Already told you, he probably hates my guts." Yurio shrugs, the motion angling tough. "They couldn't know it was me in there for sure, either. Just you guys. The Tango's pretty obvious."

"Would you have taken the Phoenix down, if worst came to worst?" Viktor asks.

"Sure. Like, fuck, if they were for sure going to kill me otherwise, I'd kill anyone first. Not that it would come to that."

"Even though Otabek probably 'hates your guts'?" Yuuri questions.

"He's got every right to," Yurio mutters, barely audible, then louder, "I'm going to fucking sleep. See you."

Then the young pilot's out.

Viktor and Yuuri turn to each other in the empty room. In here, your words don't travel so far from your mouth; too many sound-absorbers.

"You know what I need?" Viktor says.

"What? A shower?" Yuuri says.

Viktor snorts and raises an eyebrow. "All right, besides that."

"What?"

"A mirror."

Yuuri scrunches his nose. "Are you concerned about your hair again?"

Apparently Viktor's bemoaned various aspects about his hair often enough it's a trend. (The color, the receding line of it, the length, etc.) "No, I just want to see  _you._ "

Yuuri blinks. "Oh, I see. Well, um, later?"

Viktor laughs. "Sorry, I had to mention it." A yawn stretches up through his chest and he yawns, and makes Yuuri yawn, too. They're on the adrenaline crash. But Viktor has another goal, there's something else he has to do: "Yuuri, I'm thinking. This isn't going to end well." He glances to the door, which has been shut by Yurio on his way out.

"What? Black Tiger and PPDC? No, doesn't sound like it," Yurio agrees, sliding his glasses off his nose and wiping them on his shirt.

"They're completely ignoring the real threat. The Breach. Seven Kaiju, at least, coming through at a time. The whole Pacific Rim is slowly collapsing! Did you read on the news this morning, they're predicting a chain economic collapse that could cause famines the like of the Great Depression? I just - OK, we need to get in contact with someone in Hong Kong. Someone who wants to work together."

Yuuri's clueing in. "Not with Black Tiger."

"No, no. With  _us._ "

"Us."

"Yeah."

Viktor's serious. He's very serious. Hope flutters in his chest to see what Yuuri thinks of this proposition. Because he'll go with Yuuri's judgement.

Yuuri nods his head, staccato. "Mila and Sara," he says. "They're most likely to agree."

There's suddenly, under Viktor's feet, a foundation of confidence. "Alright. Good idea. How to contact them? Let's ask your sister. She might know."

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"Wait, before you go ask Yurio, let's talk the theme. You know, colors. I hear red and blue is super in for Ranger weddings. Color of human and alien blood. Very relevant. Very aesthetic. Or, you could have a themed wedding! Everyone has to come dressed as a Kaiju. Tastefully, of course."

That's all Yuuri and Viktor will let Mari say before they close the door on her. She didn't have anything for Mila and Sara. So they go to hunt down Yurio; they check the reactor room but it's not been taking out for restoration yet, it's in fact powered down, in the open and burnt area that's the bay. Looks like Yurio did some work moving most of the debris to the side in a heap, filling up half of one parking lot.

So they go upstairs and find his room. The Institute is a hive of activity everywhere. People rush, carrying construction materials or wounded fellows. Everywhere you turn there's a look on faces, a look that means business, a look that means they're roused and out for blood now.

_Do we barge in?_ Viktor asks in the drift. The door's shut.

Yuuri hovers over the handle for a moment, then shakes his head.  _I know we should get this together ASAP but - let's wait._

Viktor feels like there's some reason there he doesn't know about because he's never piloted with Yurio. But, you know, he doesn't need to know. He accepts Yuuri's judgement; they'll wait.

_Anyways, I'm tired as fuck,_ Viktor says, yawning again. Across the hall there's a bit of an open alcove with simple padded furniture and a whole lot of storage things crowding most of it.

_\- If we sleep here, we don't miss him when he gets up,_ Yuuri says.  _Who knows if Lilia will sweep him off somewhere?_

So they crash on one of the cramped couches, but somehow they fit, they fit together in the small space. And they're asleep, like that. (They'll be in each other's dreams, flights of the subconscious that are strangely similar when they compare notes. Ghosts are like that, is all they conclude.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK GUYS I finished this at 12:36 a.m. today. I literally typed from like 7 to 12:36 to try and make it. So I guess I didn't finish yesterday as guaranteed but it IS finished now. Get ready for three more 10K word chapters and then an epilogue. 
> 
> this is almost over :')


	50. Newsworthy

 

 

 

There's a sick kind of silence when the Phoenix and Eden pilots return. Reception's dominated by grey-uniformed PPDC military staff; it's cold. Marshal and General Reamus, among others, have locked themselves in the boardroom, doors shut. Repairs begin on the Phoenix straight away, but it's not the Jaegers that are truly damaged; it's this offensive effort as a whole.

1:56 a.m. and the Rangers retire to sleep. It's really all they can do at this point. Tired looks connect and cast down between the returning pilots and those who stayed; now isn't the time to talk.

In the morning, the pilots rise early as usual. They sort of straggle in to Mari and Minako's old quarters: no one is in K Science right now. A lot of Mari's equipment has been reassigned to a different wing; it's somewhat empty except for the parts she previously salvaged to build who knows what. So the Rangers all gather there. Mila's drinking a protein shake; Emil's got a couple of power bars in hand. Anya seems to be missing, as well as Guang-Hong. Otherwise, everyone's there, including Makkachin. Maybe standing in for his owner.

"So  _was it_ Yurio in there?" Mila asks Altin, whose face seems to be set in an especial stony glower.

"If anyone knows, no one told us," he replies, looking to Emil for confirmation. Emil nods, ripping off a bite of his bar.

"I would bet anything it was, though. Pretty sure it was the same - what are they calling them? Kai2s," Emil says around his mouthful.

Sara verbalizes the elephant in the room.

"How far will they make us go?"

Emil shakes his head. "It sure seems like the military's taking us over here."

"Guang-Hong says the Marshal tried to call things off, but Reamus wasn't having any of it," Leo interjects, looking thoughtful, one ankle crossed over the other, dark brown derby shoes with thin laces.

"Next time will they send all of us?" Georgi asks, leaning awkwardly against the chalkboard and ledge.

"I'm  _not_ going," Sara says solidly, with a shake of her straight dark hair.

"It's not like they want us to absolutely destroy the Kai2s and everything in them. They just want them disabled," Emil says.

"Easier said than done," Mila points out. "The second you got the rack of missiles out, Yurio - if that's who it was - was right on you, Phoenix. And he cut the Stingblade wires like he knew where they were. I'm convinced it was Yurio. If anyone's in a position to disable someone - no offense, but  _we're_ on the disadvantage."

"Not if all four of us go against two of them. Pure numbers," Sara says.

"They wouldn't. They know Viktor and Yuuri run the other one. And they can't do that," Mila argues.

"If we've got enough Jaegers to really surround them, to really disable them, pin them down or something, it'll work," Emil says. "Sorry, just playing devil's advocate," he adds like an afterthought.

"Really, what's wrong with that, though? It seems to me that Viktor and Yuuri might be effectively stuck there. Who knows? Black Tiger could have picked them up only to hold something over their heads. The news clips that have aired? Guns could be pointed from behind the camera," Leo theorizes. "They might want us to find some way to take them back."

"If we could only talk to them," Mila hisses frustratedly.

"At any rate, things might be uncomfortable for the next little while. We can't very well blow the Kai2s out of the water when the Breach opens and they come to kill off and drag away Kaiju; even those higher than Yakov can see we don't have enough men in Jaegers, we need that help, even it comes at a price," Leo details.

"How do you know this?" asks Georgi.

"Guang-Hong gets to go to some meetings, and I tag along as I please," Leo shrugs one shoulder. "I'm in a strange grey area here. As we all are. I have a feeling that they won't send us out on their silly turf battles with Black Tiger if they're not sure of our loyalty.  _They_ meaning Reamus and his crew. But, at the same time, if we want to stay in our Jaegers, there's a measure of obedience required."

"This is all stupid," Mila says. She boots up the projector screen that used to be always at Mari's side. Altin's on his phone doing something; Georgi is looking around and back at the door, maybe for Anya.

" . . .  _early this morning just twenty kilometers outside of Yakutsk, Russia, a PPDC military division assaulted the Aviation Institute in that area, assisted by ground troops and aircraft at first. It appears this Institute was housing at least two Kai2s, alternative Jaegers engineered and manufactured by Black Tiger which have been making waves as they attend Breach events and bring down Kaiju invaders. No official release from the PPDC yet, but . . . "_

Everyone turns to watch the report, blurry and dark footage of the Jaegers versus the Kai2s, the Kai2s throwing PPDC jets around, the eventual retreat of the Eden and the Phoenix. There's a short interview with some newscaster who got in there and took some footage; although the video isn't clear, except for some whitish blot around the area of the one live Kai2's hand that could be Viktor's hair, the man asserts his opinion that the threat of hitting Nikiforov and his copilot, likely Katsuki, was what turned the PPDC Jaegers around.

Then there's a round table of two hosts and two guests, both educated professionals, one a former PPDC strategist who now teaches somewhere and the other someone who has something to do with Russian international relations.

The host raises the obvious question: why  _did_  the PPDC instigate violence?

" _I think it's very clear that Black Tiger is a threat. Not the kind we're all used to. We have been trained to see the Breach and the Kaiju as the singular threat to the survival of humankind, but now there's something much less obvious. I think it's quite clear, that Black Tiger is_ not  _governed by a regulatory body, they're doing whatever they want to without international approval like the UN. What are the environmental effects of the bioweapons they seem to be using on the Kaiju? What exactly are they utilising Kaiju carcasses for besides strict study? And we know, we've heard reports that they_ do  _have some questionable ties-"_ begins the former PPDC operative.

" _All this about transparency. But what do we know about the Jaeger program after all these years? "_  the Russian guest interrupts. _"We have posters, we have merchandise, but really, we don't know how it_ truly  _works. They say their goal is to_ protect  _mankind, and they go and incite violence as we have just seen? They almost certainly made an attempt to close the Breach, without any release or details, so that when it bombed, they could cover it up?"_

At this, Mila scoffs shortly, a vocalization of a common reaction: it's a little bit too true.

_"I think they are afraid, afraid that the Jaeger program is getting old and they will have to yield to a new successor. I think Nikiforov realized that, and he moved on when the opportunity came up,"_ the Russian finishes.

" _Thank you for your comments, and that's my next point, we all saw from last night's video that Viktor Nikiforov, former General, has turned on his former own, or the PPDC has turned on its own, both ways. So what does that mean for viewers?"_ the host continues.

" _You have to remember, you have to realize, that the PPDC was_ not  _the agency, who for whatever reason, was able to rescue - to pick up Nikiforov, whose Jaeger was damaged after the alleged Breach attempt - the PPDC was_ not  _responsible for his rescue, so I would say, yes, it makes complete sense, especially when provoked, to act in self-defense. And of course the best defense is a good offense,"_ answers the Russian guest.

Dialogue goes back and forth, eventually reaching the topic of wider effects of this act of violence.

" _Well, it's the threat of the Breach and the Kaiju invaders that has kept our world united, in a strange way, for the past 12 years. But when our defenses failed, at least in my opinion and I'm sure many others', with the Rim Tsunami, as we're now calling it, there came a need to step up to the plate again: I think we really all got too comfortable, we all got too sure of ourselves,"_ the former PPDC affiliate responds to questioning.

Leo sighs into his hand and fiddles with the pages of a book he's been carrying around but not making much progress through. Sara lets Mila braid her hair, this time around. Altin is stoic as ever, looking past the TV screen, it would seem.

" _See, you_ _have this series of catastrophes that directly affects a good portion of the world, yes, but it has delayed consequences for the rest of the world, and so that's really why we saw so many of these integral powers leave the UN, that's why we're seeing the catastrophic effects worsen in Rim countries, because no one wants to help,"_   the former PPDC details. _"No one will help_ enough. _The Jaeger program is a very costly program, and none of these distanced countries seem to realize that that's where their problems are. In the Breach. These countries are really just dealing with what's in front of their noses. Will they invest in fixing the root problem? No. No, they're just talking internal monetary policy and government spending."_

The former PPDC goes on. " _So I think that's given Black Tiger the opening they need. The Jaeger program is no longer center stage. I think it needs to be, but it's not. And people will pick sides, nations will choose sides, there's a new product on the market and a lot of people, are, unfortunately, ready for change, I think."_

"Well, I never wanted to be an international superstar anyways," Leo concludes, standing, stretching, and heading off, likely to find Guang Hong.

_"And when our international system is on the brink of collapse - according to many experts, it is, we're going to see things happen in even the next couple of weeks that haven't happened for decades or centuries - when the world is in this state, change is dangerous,"_ the guest speaker concludes.

Rangers sigh heavily. Holed up in the shatterdome, it gets easy to be on the news, but not part of the world at large. They're used to being on an island, literally and not so literally. But the system shakes just as the ground under their feet does so often now.

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Yurio gives Viktor Mila's number. He won't say where he got it, but that doesn't matter to Viktor.

Ensuring that he's alone and out of the way - well, alone with Yuuri - he texts.

_Can I call?_

That's all. The reply comes quickly. Mila's always on top of her phone.

_who's this?_

_Vn._

They wait for a minute until:

_yeah call now_

The phone rings and there's the click of the pickup.

_"Viktor,"_ comes Mila's greeting, tones of happy relief. Viktor and Yuuri sit on the edge of Viktor's bed in their bedroom/stash room. Lilia offered them a nice room upstairs but Viktor declined. It would have been too much of an admission, a bowing to her, if he'd accepted. Because he  _knows_ she's got her hands in many more things than just Kai2s, and he's very far from making a true alliance with her.

"Mila," Viktor says in greeting, "How is Makkachin?"

" _Makkachin's fine."_ Then there's some doggy-breathing static. " _Aren't you, girl?_ "

"Sorry you had to find out I was alive by proxy."

" _It's fine. I guess you've had quite the experience. It was all true, what you said on the news? What happened to your face? It looked like there was something off."_

"Kaiju blue poisoning. I'm over it. Just a quick coma and I'm as good as new."

_"Viktor! What?!"_

"Well, almost. Yuuri's with me. I'm fine. I don't want to talk for long. I think they can see outgoing calls if they care to look. Yakov's not going to ally with Black Tiger?"

" _He won't get the chance. Reamus and his division looks like they're setting up shop to stay."_

"Fine. As I thought. While these two are quarrelling, the world's going to shit, though."

" _Tell me about it. I hate turning on the news or going on the internet but I can't help it. Breach is supposed to open in two days again by the way."_

"Yes, we know. Anyways, what do you think about closing the Breach?"

There's a brief pause from the other side.

" _That's always been the goal, right?"_ Mila says. " _How? What's the plan, General?"_

Viktor laughs shortly. "I don't have much of one. I just need to know who's with me."

" _I can get back to you on that."_

"Good."

_"But at least one._   _Two, I'll vouch for Sara."_

"Thank you, Mila. One more thing - are you - are you being ordered to actually take us down? The Kai2s?"

" _Reamus said as much after Yurio showed us up. That was Yurio in there, right?_ "

"Yes. OK. . . . would anyone, though?"

" _I don't know, Viktor._   _Not sure how far they'll push us."_

"OK. I should go. Let me know."

" _Will do, Vi-"_

Mila is cut off because all of a sudden, Mari bangs in. Viktor and Yuuri's heads whip around and before either can do or say anything, Mari grabs the phone from Viktor's hands and holds it, double-handed, up to her face:  _"Guess what they're enGAGED!"_ she shouts/squeals.

"Mari!" Viktor half-yells, getting up and slamming the door behind her.

There are just muffled noises from the other end of the line. Yuuri tries to pry the phone from Mari's grasp but she just whirls away.

"Viktor gave Yuuri a ring and Yuuri gave Viktor a ring you should  _see them!_ Who is this by the way?" Mari continues spewing. She keeps dancing out of Yuuri's reach as Yuuri lunges for her, chasing her around the room. Viktor just stops to laugh. It's sort of funny because looking through Yuuri's eyes he can tell by the color and clarity of his phone in Mari's hands, that's what Yuuri's attempting to fetch.

Eventually Yuuri accomplishes his goal. Mari plops down on the bed, beaming.

"Oh, yes, we are . . . we went to see my parents . . . after all this is done, at least I intend to," Yuuri says, and looks up at Viktor at the last phrase. The motion makes Viktor's heart melt and he aches to draw Yuuri's blurry form into focus, to see his eyes and strands of black hair and blue glasses. "Bye, Mila."

Yuuri hands Viktor's phone back to him. Mari slips and skips out.

"I got work to do, lovebirds!" she sings.

Yuuri shakes his head.

"At least we won't have to look far for a wedding planner," Viktor jokes.

Straightaway, Yuuri sends an image/impression to him in ghost. They're wobbling down the aisle, both dressed in those stupid Kaiju versions of the T-Rex outfit.

They start laughing. To an observer, it would look strange, not seeing the hidden part of the conversation.

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A day before the scheduled Breach opening, Viktor gets word back from Mila via text.

_Sara and I. the Phoenix. Leo game, GH probably going along too. and sure we can peer pressure newbies into it. ball's in your court._

Apparently Lilia has made good on her promise to pull together everything she has. 17 hours later, the grounds are swarming with reinforcements. Cranes and heavy machinery expand and erect a new perimeter for the bay. A line of traffic transporting Kai2 parts snakes to the Institute. After the Tango Victory's refueled, they and Yurio help by moving all the debris away to a designated area. Huge floodlights are cabled up all around; activity continues around the clock.

Most noticably, troops patrol the border, and the Kai2s are parked at the edge of the bay, threatening watchers. Not 5 hours before the Russian election is about to start, word goes out that there's been a riot and occupation at Moscow's White House, anger fueled by the rumor going around that it was United Russia, trying to hold on to their chance at power, who allowed the UN to send PPDC units onto their soil. News stories show police holding back the crowd, using violence in some cases. In smaller centers, similar riots break out. It's almost unavoidable that, if United Russia loses the election, Russia will leave the UN.

Viktor and Yuuri and Yurio are sent off to the latest Breach opening. Viktor inquires of Chris what the tactic is this time.

"Oh, Lilia definitely wants to show the PPDC something. But you're not ordered on assualt. The Kaiju will take care of that. Most likely you might have to tread water and watch."

So they do, at the intercept point too far away to really see what's going on, rocked by the hard crush of waves that pound out from the Breach rupture, and then the effects of what must be the Cherno's punches.

"Are we heading in, yet, Mari?" Viktor asks.

"Ummmm . . . nope, not yet," the answer comes through the comms.

In the drift, all's bright and clear around Viktor, the overlap between Yuuri and him so much more than just the ghost. They're not just  _close,_ they're  _unified._

This time, there are (only!) five Kaiju. If there had been seven, Viktor's not sure what he would have done; there's no chance he could have stayed put knowing fellow Rangers were getting destroyed; but here he can hope they're fighting a good fight, and winning, and he still keeps in Lilia's favor. He's sure she's noticed some reticence about him, and Yuuri too, both of them agree on that in the drift. She seems to be treating the pilots with more favor, elevating them to a higher profile, but it could all be just to watch them more closely. This is a tiring game to play, and it has many consequences, none of them certain.

Finally they have the go-ahead to approach. It's after Yurio notifies them all Kaiju are down. Sure enough, Mari confirms. Viktor-Yuuri feel some relief inside - and then they wonder what they're doing here.

" _Get the carcasses and get out,"_ comes Lilia's orders.

And that's not what they wanted to do at all, by god, they're here to show their skill and kill the beasts, but really, they have to. So like they're scrounging for leftovers, like beggars, they have to jet around the regrouping Jaegers, find the masses of mottled grey-blue flesh and skin sinking to depths, trailing blue blood, and get out of there as quickly as they can.

_So Lilia's playing safe, then,_  Viktor-Yuuri thinks.

They quickly make it out of sight of the Jaegers, heading northwest to the waiting underwater transport vehicles and loading up carcasses. Then it's back to the Institute. But not quite halfway through their journey, underwater, side-by-side, blue-white-flowing veins wrapped around metal skeleton just eerie blurs, another shockwave blasts them off-course. At first Viktor-Yuuri thinks they've been hit by a Kaiju, but the after-drag tells the truth as they sag out northwest.

"What the fuck?" Yurio's voice comes through the comms. "Can't be another Pitfall attempt."

"Felt like it could have been," Viktor talks back as they right themselves. The Kai2s look to each other briefly, re-orient themselves and ignite jets again to travel speed.

"Those were all the Jaegers Yakov has back there. Too far away. I don't see anything else on my nav. Mari, what was that?" Yurio says.

"I don't know, I think Lilia - that's Lilia, not me," Mari says. "There's more here, with the people who do the retrieval boats? I don't know, I haven't been listening. Just - get back here."

So they do.

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Viktor has to try a few times that day after they return to get a quick meeting together with everyone. It is very obvious that Lilia wants him around. Apparently the blast was an attempt to set up equipment at the Breach to give them better diagnostics, but it didn't work out.

"Some diagnostics," Viktor says suspiciously, while they wait upstairs in that alcove across from Yurio's room. The hall off their usual downstairs quarters is too frequented.

Yurio trudges in soon; then Chris ducks in along with Mari. They both warn they shouldn't stay long; there's stuff to do.

"First of all, I've talked to Mila, and she says they're as fed up as we are. Most, if not all, of the pilots in the program currently are willing to help us if we've got a plan," Viktor tells everyone.

"Lilia's keeping her eye on you, you know that," Chris says.

"Yes, I've noticed," Viktor says. "Anyways, with all the Jaegers and us Kai2s, I believe we will have enough manpower to run Operation Pitfall version two."

"OK, but here's the problem." Mari rests one elbow in the other hand. "I need some time to get the whole idea together. And we'll need resources, a whole 'nother arsenal of TNT, probably double or triple, on a couple of Jaegers, since the Breach has expanded. And I need to talk to someone at the Hong Kong dome to get specs on how exactly the three Breach openings are connected. All this is  _not_ gonna be easy or simple, cause I've got my hands full already and I'm constantly working with other people!"

"Would others in Division A - that's what it is, right? - be on-board with working with you?" Viktor asks. Mari tilts her head like she's considering this.

"We are pretty good together. I mean, before the PPDC raid, we took all those wire coolant trays one night and raced scrap boats. And then I taught them double dutch. And Chau didn't seem to mind when she fell and cut her leg open-" Mari's starting to laugh now and Viktor cuts her off, all business, and more serious about what should happen if Lilia finds out they're hatching a plot under her nose.

"Maybe have a look into that, if you could."

Yuuri's on his phone. "The blast we felt when we were in the water, after loading up the Kaiju? It's going in land. It's going to be as bad as quakes from Pitfall." His expression contorts as he watches a clip of wreckage, people crying, desperate for the safety of estranged family members who are most likely trapped under rubble or drowned.

"Yeah," Yurio jumps on the end of Yuuri's statement, "Apparently Australia's freaking out because all this blue in the air contaminated their water. They didn't filter it enough or something. Their hospitals are full."

"Chris, what was that, really? The explosion we felt? It can't have been just instruments installation gone wrong." Yuuri looks up at the leader of Black Tiger's right-hand man, whose gaze is cast softly and precisely down as he leans against a wall, cool light shining on silvery roses running in a stripe down both pant legs.

"Hm, well, I don't want anyone jumping to conclusions or dangerous moves. I'll tell you if you swear to me at least that."

Everyone nods eagerly at him, even Yurio.

"Lilia's extending the Breach. Creating more openings along the east/west plate."

"Why?!" Mari blurts, while Viktor presses his lips and thinks.

"She surely won't have enough Kai2s ready to go if a horde of Kaiju come through an expanded Breach," he says.

"Black Tiger's a lot larger than you new recruits know. She usually can get what she wants when she wants it," Chris says. "The plan . . ." His phone buzzes; he swipes up, screen reflects in his glasses. "I can't say now. I can't. I have to go. I'll talk to you later, Viktor, when Lilia and I decide more." And he leaves, like that.

"Awwwwh, we need Chris to talk floral arrangements for the wedding," Mari moans. Yuuri throws up his hands.

"I thought we had avoided that today," he says with a touch of (playful) exasperation.

"She wants back at Yakov," Yurio says, stretching up all limber and lithe, dropping his phone into his pocket, pointing a finger with surety at his three accomplices, and stalks off like a cat.

"What? The plan?" Yuuri says, but Yurio's gone.

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Plisetsky unblocks Altin on his phone. Has unblocked. The most recent communication is just a blunt request for Mila's number, and the desired information.

(Today, 7:23 p.m.)

**golden:** You know that was all for show, right? Our weapons out in the Phoenix? We thought for sure it was you in there and we wouldn't have open fired.

**Yuri:** so what if u did

**golden:** I don't like to be used any more than you do.

**Yuri:** im not being used. Is it Reamus telling u what to say? bet it is

**golden:** Yakov tried to call it off, too, you know.

**Yuri:** what the fuck ever.

**golden:** Why did you unblock me? Did you just need information?

**Yuri:** yes

**golden:** That's too simple.

There their conversation ends.

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_OK, so I know it's been a little while. A few days at least. Holy crap, you wouldn't believe how fast Lilia's slapping up these Jaegers! So apparently the Russian election matters here. I know, politics. But after what United Russia did by letting the PPDC here to attack us, grassroots sprung up and didn't wait for an election. The opposition, which apparently is on our side, took over government in all the kerfuffle and promptly left the UN. So no one's getting let in the country. I heard they shot down a couple planes trying to make it over to us for surveillance. On top of all that shit, guess what else. Lilia's chucking Pitfall-sized explosives into the Breach to expand it! Yeah! I know! Crazy! And here I am, desperately trying to do exactly the opposite without her noticing._

_You know, a lot of the science-type people here are loyal inasmuch as their efforts are funded. I talk to them. I think they like me. Weird, huh? Anyways, they don't much like how things have been going since the PPDC raid. They're here, like me, to make discoveries in relative peace. And now our jobs have turned, basically, to optimizing war machines._

_So I just really hinted at closing the Breach, prefacing it with grabbing some specimens to preserve before we did so. You know, a lot of these people do have families elsewhere. Ragtag militia, not so much, but these guys in A- and B- Division? Yup. And everyone's in danger now. Damn, the UN's falling apart, there have been actual war declarations in South America, trade and economic troubles in European countries, and I hear cost of living is driving people into the streets in the US. Not to mention the sheer death toll. It's jumping up after the explosives Lilia tossed in the Breach today, just like it did after Pitfall. Around 123,000 dead since Pitfall._

_So, believe it or not, I might have some people on my side._

_And Viktor's gonna come up with a plan. It's gotta be good. I know Yurio's not on his side, and that's bad. The kid's too devoted to Lilia still, though he wouldn't tell you that. I can tell. Oh, and you know, the other problem is that Lilia's got ultimate control over pretty much everything. Sure, I and the Triple mostly run our recent missions, but Lilia's omnipresent on base now and she understands, to a scary degree, how things work. I've seen her office light on at night; she demands a lot of report material from the A-team and studies it herself._

_Gotta respect the woman, but we've made a failsafe shutdown that operates all the Kai2s. On the surface, the request was for all these logical reasons, but I know her and Viktor don't trust each other. It's gotta be for that. So, when the mission goes off, Pitfall The Sequel a la Viktor Nikiforov and Viktor Nikiforov Only, someone will have to pinch that from her office._

_The path is a little better since this evening. I got in touch with Minako. Chris told me that they_ do  _have the ability to track all calls, and even though it's not kept a close eye on under usual circumstances, I should talk in this little storage closet on the northeast corner, fifth floor, if I'd like to stay masked. So I crunched myself up in there and called Minako (through Mila, Mila said she'd catch her for me)._

_It was so damn awkward. Minako picked up and was like,_ Hello, Okukawa Minako.  _And I realized I didn't really prepare what to say? So I was like,_ hi, this is Mari. Uhhh . . . how's life?  _And she told me Reamus was taking over, the algorithm's all smoothed out, she hasn't much to do now except feel bad for everyone. Then I asked her if she could get me all her Breach data. And so we started talking. Somewhere I remembered to apologize. I can't exactly remember all the stuff I said to her before Yakov kicked me out._

_Minako was just like,_ It's fine.  _I dunno if she meant it or not. Anyways, she agreed to do this with me. I'll go under Lilia's nose and she'll go under Reamus'. She said we should meet and I told her that's impossible, I'm on task every waking moment here at the Institute. So we agreed to exchange data on a VPN I'll try and get Chau to set up for me and then, the day of I guess, we'll find a way to move out somewhere and do most of it last-minute._

_Sounds really solid, right? Ha!_

_Lilia's prepping another load to go off to the Breach. I told Minako the new opening was us. But not to tell anyone. It kinda slipped out. She assured me they have no proof it was us; the explosion was traced deep inside a heat vent. Unlikely, to have happened naturally, but Lilia planted the bomb well._

_Anyways, I'm pretty sure this is all doomed to fail, because the size of the army and the quality of the weapons Lilia's got at her beck and call is enough to squash 12,891,338 nerdy scientists who prefer to titrate than to bench press, but hey. The world's tearing itself apart and if there's a chance of stopping that, you bet it's my damn duty to go for it._

_And I just really wanna be at my little brother's wedding without the threat of aliens crashing the party._

_Mari out._

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Viktor grabs Yurio by the elbow as he's coming up from the basement Knocks. That's what everyone at Black Tiger calls the expansive, utilitarian room stocked with a fleet of workout equipment and sparring areas, target practice lanes.

Yurio spooks at the touch, slaps Viktor off, gives him a glare. Inwardly, Viktor sighs with frustration. Just when he thought they were starting to have some mutual respect going on. He wishes he knew what Yuuri knew about Sofya Satina's son, he wishes he knew what went on inside that head.

"If we go to close the Breach," Viktor says in a low tone as they ascend an alternate, barely-used staircase, illuminated with functional lights and having metal railings but not much else, "can I count on you for a pilot?"

"Can I count on your non-existant plan to work?" Yurio says critically. "No. You're not fucking General anymore."

This makes Viktor angry. He stops in the stairwell. "That's not what I'm doing here, Yurio. I'm trying to save people, because your grandmother isn't. Sure, she's given you a shiny, new Kai2, she's put your name in the news, let you do everything Yakov would never do-"

"Exactly!" A step above, Yurio raises his hands to the staircase that curls in rectangles over their heads. "She's giving me a fucking  _chance_! She's the decent one, she took care of me, she took care of my mother, you might write her off as some criminal but I don't follow your fucking law!"

If he could, Viktor would be seeing red right now. He feels his hands curl into tight fists. "I'm not  _commanding_ you! I'm not  _ordering_ you! I'm asking you as a decent, mature human being to critically think about the situation. No matter  _how_ good she's been in the past, Yurio, she's doing this all for revenge! Hm? She dropped a payload equivalent to Pitfall in the Breach, knowing it would cause proportional quakes and tsunamis, driving the death toll ever higher, and now she's building Kai2s for an offensive of some kind? All for revenge! That's what you said, earlier, isn't it? Against Yakov, I think?"

"And so what if he  _deserves that revenge?!"_

"Not at this cost!"

"Fuck you!"

Yurio opens the door to ground level and exits, slamming it behind him.

Viktor's alone in the stairs. He presses a palm to his forehead. That went well, not. Now there's a leak, a liability. Would Yurio  _tell_ Lilia what's going on among her new staff, now? Has it gotten ugly enough? Viktor still hopes not, he still thinks Yurio's the sort to sulk but keep it to himself.

His phone buzzes. Message from Mari. Details about a failsafe shutdown Lilia has on the Kai2s that's kept in her office. Before her Kai2s go rogue, friendly hands need to nab that one. Mari suggests a better idea, sending a schematic of the device - just a simple disconnection of a wire inside the frame of the triangle-ish control will do it, and leave the holder none the wiser, as long as it's put back together properly.

Viktor can work on that piece of the puzzle.

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Lying in bed that night, Viktor tells Yuuri how the talk with Yurio went.

-  _Oh dear. I guess I should have talked to him._

_\- It was worth a try._

_\- At least_ you've  _warmed up to him._

_\- He's incredibly talented. He did fight in our defense in the raid. . . . do you think he'll tell Lilia?_

_\- I don't . . . think so. From what you've said. Maybe just . . . avoid him for a while._

Viktor's fingers trace and hold Yuuri's cheek in the darkness. Viktor certainly can't see a thing, so he goes by touch.

-  _I would say we should be much closer,_ Viktor goes on in ghost.

"Hmmmm," Yuuri purrs out loud. It really is sort of a purr, that's the only way to describe it.

_If things weren't like this. I don't feel like I could give you my best right now,_ Viktor admits.

_\- Me neither. At least without a half dozen drinks first,_ Yuuri responds.

-  _Later,_ Viktor promises.

-  _Later._

_\- I want you so badly, Yuuri,_ Viktor rolls off sleepily, his eyelids falling shut apart from his will.

-  _Don't trouble yourself. You have me, Viktor._

Then Viktor's asleep, as his hand falls from Yuuri's cheek, and he feels the warmth of Yuuri's arm rest across his chest and fingertips drape to bicep, black-stained and scarred though Viktor's skin may be.

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In his room, Plisetsky's curled on the floor by the foot of his bed, face a miserable mess of tears and sweat. He wasn't to be seen in the showers after working out, and besides that, he's fatigued the muscles deep within him to completion, until his limbs tremor with an afterglow that's unsure of how or why it arrived here.

Maybe it's the open hands he's been offered and bit back all the same. The strain of justification. Memories that continue to bear down on him, twisting into an untrusting panic. Something he needs and won't take. Looking inside and blocking the denial and all the perfect scores and times and simulation drops.

Earlier, his grandmother and he spent time together, as they usually do. She has asked after his health and inquired of his ambitions and how  _he_ sees  _himself_ running the Kai2. She asked about Viktor. What  _Yuri_ (Yura, from her) thought of Viktor. His own insight. Yuri Plisetsky has never been that kind of important until now. Conveniently, it comes at the same time when he's wondering if he  _deserves_ that kind of importance, thank fucking Yuuri Katsuki for forcing him to face the things of the past he hates to face.

Well, at least, it seems like that's what Plisetsky's thinking about, judging from recent events, his behaviour, how he struggles at night.

Earlier, too,  _someone-not-his-fucking-father_ grabbed him by the elbow to talk to them and that was when he said  _FUCK NO!_ to whatever they had to offer, be it a personal fleet of Kai2s or eighteen perfect Bengal kittens, didn't matter, but maybe what  _does_ matter is that the act's been going over and over in his head all day and it shouldn't be messing with him, but it is and he's put himself in his room to get over it. But he's been in there and hasn't come out. There's still the angry grip at his elbow, even though there's isn't. There's the lash of whatever object's heaviest and easiest at hand across his-

" _Fucked up,"_ he murmurs hoarsely, rolling onto his back on the low-pile carpet, room dark, eyes open. He snucks back whatever combination of hate and sorrow and anger is coalescing at the back of his throat.

But at the end of the day, though, he has food, shelter, a family member who cares about him and is  _able_ to care for him, all in the same space, all for a continued time for the first time in a long time. Lilia took care of his mother, she saved her as best she could from her life and the hell it became, and that's all the proof one could need to say she can do it again. So maybe Plisetsky can skip time and consequences, and find himself back together sooner than expected, in this environment? - maybe to someone in this fucked-over world, he does deserve importance, the real kind - and maybe he can end up with what he wants someday, something that's just a scribbly tangle of explanations and reasons and emotions neither party could unwind currently. Maybe he'll prove enough so he's desired, or maybe he'll find he does not desire anymore.

The latter seems to be unlikely, as he clambers back onto the bed, throws himself down, runs his hand down his chest to slip under the band of his sleep pants - though there are the starts of  _red angry nail marks_ and then  _bruises blotching his back,_ associations, though not in truth equal imagery - that hiss and sting and make him almost stop, it seems like he can't. Maybe he's had his high but he wants another to come down from.

Chokes and cries, he would need the other party in the flesh to calm the responses chained to the act by one catalytic event, but suppose he just can't wait.

One word: a Ranger's name. And whose is obvious.

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The Institute is now a reanimated creature, ringed with defenses and light, and crawling with life. External reinforcements work night and day and ready a display for everyone who has the privilege of being on-site with this branch of Black Tiger.

Lilia and several of those who in the thick of constructing the Kai2s officially unveil their creations around 8 p.m. one evening. There have been quakes all day, but nothing stops the progress. A light snow slices down and the air's chilly.

Not like the Kai2s have been hidden so far, but now they're lined up and ready to go, all in the same position. First is Yurio's, which Viktor and Yuuri are officially calling Puma-Tiger-Scorpion because that's the off-the-cuff name from Yurio they got when they asked (PTS for short), the darker shade of red, still bright enough to outshine any Jaeger. Floodlights are turned on each shoulder and light gleams down the body, carries through the veins and arteries wrapped around its limbs and ultimately tracking into its heart.

Next to Yurio's Kai2 is the Tango Victory. It retains the helm window and some of the shoulder plating, main riveted bar down the chest, but otherwise the remnants of the once-Jaeger have been completely incorporated into the Kai2 design. The blue insets and details make the recycled parts seem more at home; chain sword's finally installed now. Then, third in line is the one that was mostly demolished while in construction by the PPDC raid. It's a lighter, more orange shade of red; it's also got three arms, something Viktor's never seen before. And finally, the last Kai2, a more rosy shade of red, darker and pinker, but not exactly pink.

The biggest new detail is that each has the Black Tiger insignia stamped white on the left side of the chest. Besides all their designs being exactly the same, the Tango of course sticking out a little in that respect, the common mark truly makes the four Kai2s into a fleet. A team. Viktor soaks up the sight, craning his neck up alongside Yuuri, following his copilot's gaze to get all the details. It's not like the individualized Jaegers. This is a more cohesive build. Subtly, it stands for the tempting idea that the world could unite itself, put itself back together in these days.

Lilia gives a speech that Viktor mostly doesn't listen to. It plays to the need to punch back who punched them, the gathered Black Tiger affiliates. Not any important information, until:

"We are currently planting multiple disconnected Breach openings. We are going to push the PPDC to failure. We predict and prepare for a huge event to draw the entire PPDC out. Then, we will  _not_ aid them as we have been so kindly doing." Lilia's strident tone echoes off the hastily-erected boundaries of the expanded bay. "We will march on their shatterdome headquarters and deal to them what they attempted to deal to us!"

Shouts of agreement go up from the waiting crowd. Weapons are pumped in the air.

"We have given the UN all the opportunity to choose Black Tiger as the leading power of this age. Now, we will take that right!"

What Viktor hears, most alarmingly, is the use of the  _UN,_ and not just the PPDC. Immediately, to Yuuri in ghost, hearing drowned out by the chants of, " _Black! Tiger! Black! Tiger!"_ around them, he says:  _But Lilia's no fool, she must for sure know that we won't willingly go and knock down fellow Rangers._

_\- I'm sure she'll have another talk with you,_ Yuuri says.  _So be careful._

_\- I will. But on the other hand - this is perfect. I'm sure I can make this work. I need to talk to Chris and see what he's got, or what he can get, on all these explosives Lilia's chucking along the Pacific plate fault. And - hm. Yurio, though. I don't know how to deal with him . . ._

_\- I think you shouldn't get ahead of yourself._

_\- True._ Viktor looks back to the front of the crowd, where Lilia's calling up: well, she's calling Viktor and Yuuri up now, Yurio's already there, beginning a line of the Kai2 pilots.

So the Ranger pair goes up and takes their place beside Yurio; they can't not; Lilia assigns them  _pilots Katsuki Yuuri and Viktor Nikiforov!_ \- it reminds Viktor of all the press he's had to deal with for years, the harsh white flood lamps like a constant camera flash going off, and he hates being in this position - likely Lilia's locking him here, now it'll be more dangerous if he's found going against her- of a sudden Yuuri's fingers wind in his.

- _Come on, just enjoy it for what it is,_ Yuuri smiles at him.

-  _Easy for you to say, you always had fun media relations, not the responsibility of telling reporters exactly what you need to, to pick-and-choose carefully . . ._ But Yuuri's content to live in the moment and Viktor joins him, called by the flash of Yuuri's ring in the lights, unmistakable even through Viktor's own eyes.

Then the Triple trots up; Lilia must have called their names while Viktor was off thinking. Must be that the three-armed Kai2 is for them.

The crowd gathered continues to roar along, but Viktor thinks it's not to honor the pilots so much as it's jubilation knowing what they offer: a chance to take a bite out of the competition. And he's sure Yurio is eating it up.

Finally, it's Chris who just dodges from Lilia's other side to complete the row of four pilot teams. All Lilia says is that he  _will_ have a copilot ready in the near future. Viktor suspected as much, since he's seen Chris in the Knocks when he's gone there with Yuuri. Chris would always tell them off -  _what a silly rumor!_ \- but with a grin that betrayed it all.

Viktor supposes most would be happy in his position: avoided certain death, recovered to find a restored Jaeger, elevated again to this kind of status and prestige. Well, Viktor's not exactly  _against_  overthrowing the PPDC. Why, he'll rely on that part of him to make a believable case to Lilia. But he really wants to save the world, and he feels the time's right.

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"I'm sure it's not your preferred course of action to go along with my plans. Yakov has had his day; the Jaeger program has had its day, the world knows it; but I know you were raised within the structure of it all."

Indeed, Lilia  _has_ called a meeting with Viktor in her office. Viktor's sub-goal here is to try and see, somewhere in the desk, the drawer she keeps the failsafe in. Damn his vision, he can't, not without being extremely obvious. But it must be in her table somewhere.

"Old habits die hard. That said, I have had a hard time of it lately," Viktor responds. He can't be too easy. He can't be too willing. But he has to yield, and convincingly.

Lilia's wearing a loose black mesh top that wraps half up her neck and cinches at the wrists with pearl-rowed cuffs. Underneath is a darkish garment with sweeping folds, long to her heels, and Viktor would bet anything it's red.

"I do want to be honest with you, Nikiforov. You've been General. You know how this all works. You know I cannot, ultimately, fully, trust you yet." Lilia puffs a small sigh, tilting her head.

_Interesting, more frank than I guessed,_ Viktor notes. "I suppose you can't," Viktor says, crossing his arms, "not to turn on my Rangers. Who  _were_ my Rangers."

"No, I wouldn't put you in that position. With the sheer number of Kaiju which will emerge from the fault, through the multiple Breaches, I intend to draw out all the Jaegers and all the military forces stationed at the shatterdome. Now, I would like to send you and Yuuri to the shatterdome. I would like to make you captain of that plan. To take that emblem of the Jaeger program. It will be mostly empty. I am sure you'll just walk in and sit down. What do you say?"

Another offer Viktor knows, if he accepts, will be a nod to Lilia's dominance. It's appropriate, he plays, moving pieces of the puzzle in his mind. "It seems like a good way to get Yakov out of power," Viktor agrees, even though he knows it's General Reamus who's taken over control, from talking with Mila.

"When we have time, I'd like to chat about our experiences with the man. I'm sure it would be . . . therapeutic." Viktor thinks what he can see on Lilia's face is an amused, if grim, smile. "You two were so close, though?"

"He taught me most of what I know," Viktor says. "But the second my dreams didn't line up with his . . . well."

"Mm, isn't that how he works?" Lilia takes a tall, oblong shape from the surface of her desk, standing to signal the end of their chat. "I won't talk more. Trust takes time, not words. If you have doubts, talk to Chris. Talk to Yura. They know how I treat them."

Viktor nods. "Yurio's certainly living up to his potential here rather than in the Jaeger program," he agrees.

Lilia hands Viktor the object she took from her desk. "A gift for the both of you, though it's a touch late." She brushes the ring on his fourth finger. "Congratulations."

Viktor takes the cool, smooth bottle. There are some oddities under his grip at the top, some fancy work, an expensive drink no doubt. "Thank you," he says, and leaves.

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In two days, a lot of things happen. Viktor doesn't sleep much. He tries to use dark hours to communicate with Mila, and both he and Mari are using the closet as much as they can. (Sometimes they work tag-team. The first time Mari bumps into him coming out, of  _course_ she makes a bad joke about  _coming out of the closet._ )

At the same time, there's physical and mental training. Some A-division staff have rigged up a room with a divider in the middle and a pons system to help Yuuri and Viktor's drift skills, enhance the mental-over-physical takeover. A computer reads dual movements and provides feedback on how in-sync their movements were.

This is the highlight of Viktor's day. He persuades Yuuri to propose a lot of the movement. Wearing just the light pons, alone on his side of the room, he'll start moving to their shared mindspace where Yuuri's leading him. Sure, they could have done something less challenging and been completely in sync, but this stretches both of them. Viktor has always sworn he can't dance, but  _alone together_ with Yuuri, he's not afraid of the prospect or embarrassment. At first, their coordination is something like 60%, but it jumps quickly up to the 90s. Still, Yuuri will ask Viktor  _show me!_ out of the drift, out of the room, and he has to say no, he's helpless without that tether.

He's happy to play the lovesick fool (it's no stretch at all, only the threat of what the world's becoming is keeping his feet on the groud) because that just might make him that much more innocuous to everyone else on base, thirsty for blood.

But of course, on the inside, he's constantly on guard. Chris has warned Viktor of how deep he's getting himself in. Lilia trusts Chris; she's said as much; but even he knows there's a point he could pass any second where alarm lights could go off in his superior's mind.

The biggest string he's pulled is unloading two stationary payloads at the bottom of the ocean, pre-designated coordinates Mari set based on information from Minako and those on Mari's side at the Institute. Their course of action won't be easy; although B1 and B2 are connected, B3 and the two Lilia has opened so far aren't joined. So, everyone's agreed that first they all must be joined, a two-mile span, and then it will just take one final assault, riding a Kaiju into the Breach, to close it all off.

Viktor and Yuuri immediately reached a willing conclusion that they should be the ones to do it.

All these negotiations and midnight meetings Yurio hasn't attended. He's the variable at this point. The Triple has been, too, but Chris assures Viktor he can turn them to it, as long as Mari manages to take over communications and doesn't let Lilia have a word in - the order will be that plans have changed.

Still, Yurio could screw everything up if he wanted to.

A constant false alarm is called on the multiple Breach openings; they spike with energy like never before, but no Kaiju emerge. In the PPDC, analysis flounders to find an explanation, but there's no reason for the sudden surge. Pacific Rim population is forced to press inland, coasts battered by rising, furious tides, earthquakes bringing down buildings all around the epicenter of the quakes. A hurricane threatens the west coast of the US: with the ocean heated by the epic amounts of energy the active Breach sites release, the storms easily travel the distance and tear up the coastlines of Oregon and California, unprepared for this kind of disaster.

The Wall is mostly in shambles. Two days after Lilia unveils all four Kai2s, estimates run that 83% of the Wall is critically damaged, and 45% is completely destroyed: mostly by sinking foundations.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the previous regime struggles violently to maintain power by military force, while Black Tiger aids the population at large to overthrow United Russia. Effects of the war sweeps easily into closely-tied satellite states. China officially aligns itself with United Russia, the economic consequences of allowing the party to be overthrown too threatening; America enters the conflict, sending air forces on the west side to help keep independent countries independent. At the onset, experts predict the opposition easily squashed in Russia, with the help of China on United Russia's side - but the rebellious movement receives an unprecedented expanse and quality of support from Black Tiger.

Travel bans prevent blue-infected Australians, Indonesians, Malaysians, and people from that area from finding shelter. The death toll continues to rise; countries are fighting and the international aid system is all but in shambles. Storms and war kill quickly: disease, food deprivation and emotional toll on those who have lost loved ones kill slower, but just as surely.

Viktor prays the Breach will open. It has to. Mari frantically continues to report super high activity levels, but nothing's happening, and she suspects the PPDC's just as confused.

Viktor  _needs_ the Breach to open. Because that's his chance - and everyone's change, any Rangers' chance - to put an end to this all. Mila says they're just waiting for his order; he's told them the plan; Mari has got someone on their side in the Institute to make sure the Kai2s will be able to communicate with the Jaegers.

He's overrun with impatience. It's only Yuuri at his side that makes him sleep the whole night; the training they spend separated but together. It's only Yuuri that makes him whole. His vision is the most immediate reminder of what his soul knows is true.

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_So even though no one has any idea what's going on with the breach, not even Minako over in Hong Kong - but there's a big storm coming, we know that for sure - our little undercover team is doing quite well. Me and the A-team, too, we're getting along fine. One of the head engineers who works on the MHearts got news that his wife and two kids, down in Vietnam, are missing after a 7.8 magnitude quake brought down buildings in their town. We all told him he should go back, but he said there was no point - he'd stay here and dedicate himself to getting the Breach closed, to defying Lilia's orders along with - well, pretty much everyone else. Whaddaya know, I'm a pretty convincing biologist. We still have fun, though, like last night I hosted this Kaiju trivia game and it got pretty violent, like . . ._

_. . . sorry, just got a text come through . . ._

_. . ._

_. . ._

_. . . yeah, anyways, we're getting stuff done. I can't believe that we've managed to load the Halfdrifts into the PTS and the Victory. Oh yeah, the PTS is the Puma-Tiger-Scorpion, Yurio's Kai2. He named it himself. And_ I  _like to call the Tango Victory, just 'The Victory'. Sounds like its pilots._

_Now it seems like we're getting away with a lot, but that's because everyone with a weapon doesn't know enough to notice. As soon as the Kai2s alter course en route to the PPDC or wherever Lilia's sending them - that'll be bad news. Sad thing, but a lot of the lower-down militia who just do Black Tiger's dirty work and get exotic drugs like 'ju in reward really don't have family elsewhere. They don't care about all the destruction Lilia's extra Breaches are causing. There's no damn use trying to get them on our side; someone would snitch to Lilia right away._

_Oh yeah, what are the Halfdrifts? I can't take credit for 'em. They're mostly Celestino's idea, something else everyone here's been working on for a while. Basically a way to communicate very, very lightly and quite safely with a Kaiju brain. Now, it's only been tested on suspended specimens, so I've been told. But I think it'll help us fix the issue of, sure, we can maybe hitch a ride on a Kaiju, but where's it gonna go? They're like a long cylinder, sorta got the look of a shark egg case, and they wire up to the neural bridge of a Kai2's pilots. Chau's designed a helical amplifier that detects the nodal - aw, man, I'm starting to sound like Minako. Anyways, it's guaranteed to work, they've tested it before, and now they've refined it with some help from Yurio as a sort-of stand-in Kaiju. Pilots should be able to mentally force whatever Kaiju they grab into the Breach. It'll be kinda rough - more like screaming, "No! Not THAT way!" without precisely being able to communicate which way "that way" is, but that's as good as we can get without risking brain damage._

_Call me crazy, but I'm feeling damn confident. I tried to give us a team name - you know, Yuuri, Viktor, me and Chris and Celestino and everyone else on our side. PPDC Rangers too, I guess. Viktor walked over to hit his head on the wall when I started suggesting names. Idk, I thought_ Made of Honour  _was pretty good. Upcoming wedding and all. And honor. So -_

_\- I gotta go, Mari out, something's happening with the Breach! Breaches! Talk later!_

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(Today, 4:52 p.m.)

**Yuri:** so the breaches are opening and i guess Viktor's doing his stupid plan. are u going with hin

(8:12 p.m.)

**golden:** Aren't you?

**Yuri:** i asked u

**golden:** Emil and I agreed to.

**Yuri:** you and emil hahahahahahahhahhaha

**golden:** You're always so demeaning to my copilots.

**Yuri:** and u think u know why

**golden:** You won't tell me, so I reach my own conclusions.

Plisetsky is curled up deep in the basement, a stop along the pathway of nuclear energy that has powered the Institute recently. He's stashed pillows and a blanket. There's also a cat no one will let upstairs because of radiation rumors; the diluted calico is comfortable cuddled down beside him.

_Yeah well im not following his plan. once Lilia figures out hes not following her, shell need me,_ Plisetsky types on his phone, then backspaces.

**Yuri:** im going along

**golden:** See you there, then.

Plisetsky types:

_thats not enough. i need to touch you. i need you fucking me again, damn it Bek i need you. i need you so bad_

But he backspaces and says nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10K words bitchezzzz


	51. Last Chance

One final plea.

"Yurio, we need you with us," Viktor's telling the blonde, having caught his attention upon leaving the Knocks. Yuuri's still showering. Yurio's on his way in.

"I told you. I'm not. Don't fucking talk to me about it. Lilia rescues you, puts you and your Jaeger and Yuuri back together, and you go behind her back like this? Don't you know what the PPDC fucking did to you? Just left you for dead. You weren't in the shatterdome while we waited and waited and Yakov said no."

"I know I owed Lilia. Regardless of whether you think I payed it back or not, there's a much bigger debt to the world at large. Don't  _you_ care if the world collapses? The way things are looking with Russia, the US, and China, we could destroy ourselves before Kaiju do. And it's Black Tiger that's accelerating the conflict."

"You do your shit and let me do mine. I'm in no fucking debt to fucking care about  _anyone,_ " Yurio hisses.

"Is life just buy-and-sell to you?" Viktor can feel the heat of anger rising in his chest. But he tried that last time and it didn't work. He calms by finding the facts of the situation. As Yurio looks like he's about to stalk off spitefully, Viktor holds his attention, saying, "People might have treated you like that. But you get to be better. Better than anyone's dreamed of you."

For a split second Yurio's slitted eyes flash open, and then grow hard at the edges.

"Lilia's making that possible."

A lift of the chin, then he's gone. He's out.

Viktor sighs hard and presses his palm to his forehead. He's more and more concerned about this loose thread every day that goes by. Before, they've been confident he'll come around - they meaning the core team of him and Mari and Yuuri and Chris (they really  _should_ make themselves a name), but now it's no solid bet. Yurio would be a  _huge_ asset in assaulting the Breach, even if it seems like he won't leak word of the plan to Lilia, operating on a live-and-let-live policy.

Waiting for Yuuri to finish, Viktor introspectively wonders at this you-do-your-thing-I'll-do-mine approach. He comes up realizing the logic in his subconscious: if Yurio tells Lilia any of their secret plans, it surely means Yurio's been consorting with Viktor and everyone else. Maybe the Ranger's afraid that Lilia's estimate of him would fall with that news. And then, Viktor's sure Yurio knows that Viktor isn't a  _bad guy._ He might not like him. But Viktor does this with noble intentions, and he's sure they couldn't been mistaken for anything else.

Surprisingly, Viktor finds that his greatest worry isn't for what Yurio would do to the Sequel (that's what the mission's been nicknamed: Pitfall, the Sequel, somewhat of a joke, but it really is). It's for Yurio himself. Viktor's dealt at length with Black Tiger his whole time as General. It's blatant what they're doing, on the news. It's clear as day that Lilia doesn't have much care for laws or regulations; the job gets done in whatever way to make it successful. In the frame of crisis, Lilia's able to mask up Black Tiger's public image to be a lot prettier than it is. And you just don't act like that towards the rest of the world without treating people close to you, day by day, like that as well. Viktor knows. There must be a fault somewhere, however well-hidden behind the image Yurio believes of her. And the longer Yurio and his grandmother go on with that so cleverly concealed, the more painful and lasting the hurt when it breaches the surface, Viktor knows.

There  _must_ be some ulterior motive, even if it's just a rephrasing:  _I take care of my grandson because I love and care for him/I take care of my grandson because he's a skilled and loyal pilot who calls the money straight to me._  At the very least, there's a double agenda. All right, he'll be polite. At the very least, there are unintentional consequences of habit and personality.

Fuck it all, Viktor  _cares_ about the kid. He cares about Yurio. Fine.  _Fine._ He'll admit it. Maybe not to Yuuri - oh, but Yuuri will find it anyways.

So he admits it first. Yuuri comes out, hair still wet, Viktor feels against his cheek as they lean their heads together. The ghost tethers.

The release of emotion comes from Viktor in a sigh of resignment, and below that, concern.

-  _Hmmmm,_ Yuuri says contemplatively.  _We have to let him be for now._

 _\- I can't_ stand  _seeing him just blindly follow Lilia._

_\- Most of us blindly follow things at least at some point of our lives. Me? Figure skating._

Viktor rolls his eyes.  _You were legitimately good at it. I - I followed Yakov. It was good. I learned a lot. We used to work together well. But when I was younger, before the Academy - he was a bit more of a role model, an idol, than he should have been, I guess._

 _\- Did you know I had a poster of you in my room once?_ Yuuri blurts in the drift, and out loud, lets out an embarrassed laugh. Without the audible dialogue precursor, some heads turn to them as they walk past the open area of squat racks.

-  _What?!_ Viktor feels himself blushing and he's sure as fuck Yuuri's blushing too.  _No way. That's . . . That's extremely flattering._

_\- I mean, a lot of people probably had, and have, posters of you in their rooms._

_\- True. And action figures. Oh, god, they made a figure of me in, hmm, I think 2021._

_\- I saw that._

_\- Hope you weren't tempted,_ Viktor snorts.

-  _Not reeeaaally. But they made your ass look good in the suit._

 _\- Yuuri!_ Viktor says in astonishment.  _How dare you! The only good ass on the face of this godforsaken planet is yours._

 _\- It's not godforsaken so long as you're still on it,_ Yuuri snaps back.

-  _Please, the only deity in this room is the angel beside me._

_\- That was terrible._

_\- It was awful,_ Viktor agrees.  _Oh, no. I don't think you're an angel at all. The halo I saw is just the light behind you. This 'god' can't see for shit._

Somehow the world's crashing in on itself straight to ruin, but they're laughing, and Viktor loves it.

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"Mari... it's . . . . uhh . . . it's night," Viktor slurs, dragging his consciousness out of sleep to his buzzing phone, unable to make out the time on the bright screen, swinging himself up to sitting off the edge of the bed.

Mari's excited tone blabbers in his ear. He holds the phone out slightly.

"Please . . . slower," he manages, a bit clearer, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. He's been sleeping so well lately that it's compromised his long-time ability to snap awake at a second's notice.

This time when Mari talks, he catches something about the Breach. And he wakes up. He listens  _hard._

"We don't know for SURE but the one indicator we were missing despite all the crazy levels, it's back up! It's going down in 8 - 16 hours! I swear there's gonna be a  _shit_ ton of Kaiju! Oh boy! Oh man!" Mari's yelling.

The first order of business. Viktor kicks into mission mode. He's made himself the man for the job. He's man to have made the job for himself.

"When do I get into Lilia's office and disable her failsafe?"

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Neither Viktor nor Yuuri much like the military strength lining itself up, filling halls, weapons and ammunition and transportation vehicles filling the Insititute's lot and indoor base in the morning.

It's all  _go_ from here.

First order of business is to fix the failsafe. Lilia's going off for debriefing in the yard outside. Weather's not great, boiling storms in the distance. Who knows where Yurio is.

Viktor and Yuuri make it inconspicuously enough up to Lilia's office. Chris would have been the first pick for the job, but he's swamped with duties he can't evade; he said he was flying off-base, so he's not even here. The plan is to send Yuuri in with Viktor just outside to keep watch and communicate in ghost. It'll be a bit of a thin connection, but judging by the distance from the door to the desk, shouldn't be bad.

Slowing their pace as they approach and a troupe of division B workers goes past, the spotlight of Yuuri's gaze is trained on the door. They hover outside for a couple seconds before Viktor picks the lock, Yuuri watching his back. Good thing this is all by feel. Giving the door a little push open, Viktor ushers Yuuri in, and shuts it behind himself.

Tensely, Viktor watches up and down the hall for motion. Mari's said someone in B-div is making sure the security cameras up here are conveniently offline.

-  _So you didn't see any drawer when you were in here last,_ Yuuri talks to him from behind the closed door.

-  _I really can't see without you, Yuuri._

Yuuri keeps him up to speed with a running monologue of what he's looking for. Viktor clutches his phone in his hand. He doesn't lean against the wall. If someone comes, he'd like to give the impression that he's  _not_ waiting for someone else, snooping around inside.

-  _I think I found it. There's a drawer. Yup, it's a triangle like Mari said. OK, I'm opening it . . . ._

_\- Can you see all the wires like she said?_

_\- I think . . . . OK, yes, I'm sure it's this one. Alright. I'm just switching the ports like she suggested._

_\- Good. Coast's still clear._ There's the noise of whatever rally is taking place outside coming muffled through the walls of the Institute.

-  _Done. Anything else while I'm here?_

_\- Anything interesting on her desk?_

Immediately it's conveyed that  _interesting_ would mean  _incriminating,_ something that possibly could sway Yurio. Because Viktor really,  _really_ would like to be sure about that loose end, for his own good and theirs, too.

-  _I'm looking._

Then Viktor's phone buzzes. He has to put his face close to the screen to read anything at all. Damn his vision! The font is even supersized. But barely has distinguished what it says - from Mari -  _watch out -_ and then there are people coming down the hallway. Blurry as ever but Viktor recognizes the motion. 

-  _Hide!_ Viktor blasts to Yuuri through the ghost and acts like he's trying to pick the lock, acts surprised when Black Tiger grabs him from behind - a squad headed by a woman with a half-shaved head that looks as dangerous as any wild animal - and someone knocks him out with pressure to the carotid artery.

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Viktor wakes up in darkness. Not that relatively blurryness and grayscale is unusual, but it's actually quite dark. He gives his eyes a moment. The ghost is gone; in its stead a headache.

Slowly dim lights that must hang from the roof of wherever he is come into focus. He feels restraints against his wrists; his back's against something hard, probably a pipe. Definitely a basement area. He struggles up from a slumped position, his shoulders aching but no opportunity to release them. Wriggling his wrists, he feels like it's likely a zip tie. Brute force, then. The curvature of the pipe should work. He  _whaps_ the restraint down a few times against the pipe, sending loud reverberations around the room; it must be fairly bare.  _Snap -_ the plastic fails and Viktor stumbles free, hands and knees on cold concrete, pulling himself up again.

Lucky it doesn't seem like they've left anyone to watch him. He rolls his shoulders, sore. He has to get back out and find Yuuri (if Black Tiger didn't find him first, hopefully not, hopefully they would fall for his ruse of trying to break in, not already having an accomplice inside). Thanks to his shit vision, though, he's got to trace the perimeter by feel, no clear sight of a door in the very dim light.

Fingers run along rough concrete and bump over pipes. He knocks into a cart or table of some sort and goes around it. If only he could see properly the dim light would be enough, but he has to go slowly, focusing all his mental energy into touch and hearing.

Eventually he finds the outline of a solid, metal door. There's a crack and then a raised edge around the door. It takes Viktor a few minutes to feel that it's bolted via a rotating device.

The slight chill down here isn't uncomfortable in the least, but Viktor can't feel it anymore as soon as he applies himself to turning the thing. It's very stuck and it takes much of his strength, hooking his hands in radial grooves and trying to twist it open, slide the bolt back.

With a deafening scraping sound in the small room, the lock mechanism moves. Viktor tugs towards him. The heavy metal door opens, and faint white light slices from the crack.

Enough to grope around a little more guidedly, hopefully find a weapon: Viktor re-checks the interior of his capture room, but there's nothing, except another door in an alcove on the last wall he didn't get to. That one's locked.

So he goes through the one he's just opened.

It's a hallway with brighter, though still not very bright, fluorescents lined down the middle of the ceiling. Racks of lockers and old machinery, looking like relics from when this building was only an Aircraft Institute, stack off the main pathway. Viktor gets closer to one. There's cyrillic printing on it. He suddenly has the feeling that even when this  _was_ the Aircraft Institute, it might have still been a place for covert government operations.

One of the fluorescents flickers; the hall doesn't smell stale at all; rather, it's almost like people have been here. Viktor keeps going down the hallway, not sensing anyone in the area.

There's a T-intersection. One end goes to a door with a small window set in it. He's definitely underground from the pipes running along the unfinished walls, and the general feeling that there's activity above. Viktor looks in the room; appears to be more storage, not that he can tell much. Turning the other way, the lights continue further, so he chooses that path.

Racks of rifles hang along one wall. Viktor checks them; no ammunition. He takes one anyway. Then there's what looks like breathing masks and suits on the other wall.

Finally, a short section of rooms, set in slightly from the hallway, much like classrooms would be in a school. Four, two to each side. Viktor feels the time pressure, the urgency to get out of here, and although he doesn't feel like any of these rooms will go anywhere, there's a low hum coming from one of them that piques his interest. Anything worth finding out, he'll take a chance for it.

The doors are labelled '101' through '104'. Peering in, all are dark except for 103. He tries the handle. Unlocked.

Entering with rifle at the ready, the sound of Viktor's footfalls alert him to the fact it's a small room. There's an air about it that makes Viktor think not many people come in here. An apparatus producing a blue glow from its screen stands beside a clear-shielded bed. On the bed lies a woman. There's another readout on her other side; something's around her head, like a minimalistic pons. She wears a light-colored dress.

Viktor approaches to investigate.

She looks to be in her late 30s or early 40s, sleeping, her heart rate blipping along a green line. Viktor feels his way around the apparatus at her side; he thinks he's seen it before . . . oh, yes, that's right, Yuuri was having trouble sleeping and Mari mentioned that the Institute had this thing. It was supposed to deepen a sleeper's dream state. That, of course, wouldn't be helpful for Yuuri, because a lot of his dreams are nightmares. But apparently it's working for her. The cables from the apparatus thread into the base of the bed and reappear on the other side of the clear, curved wall, connecting to the pons-like piece gently gripping her head.

Ringed tubes run from the covered bed into a box-like generator off to the side of the room. That's what makes the hum.

He presses his gaze close to the glass and angles to try and get a better view. Of course the shield keeps him at bay. Fuck his vision! At this distance, she's still quite blurry, but Viktor can guess she's a blonde, so blonde that it's almost white. He moves to the side toward which her sleeping face is slightly tilted. Still her facial features are blurred, as if one had a -3.00 prescription from that point. He struggles for a minute to place her, because he knows the face:

It's Sofya Satina.

For a bit, he stands at the glass, waiting for his subconscious to realize if anything's amiss, but nothing seems so. (Despite the obvious fact that Lilia's keeping her adoptive daughter cooped up down here in some eternal slumber, when she's actually supposed to be well-cared for in some high-quality facility.)

The pressure of time kicks Viktor back into motion. Nothing more to do here. Save it to tell Yurio. Viktor exits 103 and continues down the hallway to another junction, rifle slung ready over his shoulder.

After several minutes of exploring, he determines he's blocked off from all sides. No wonder they didn't bother tying him up tighter. The doors are heavy metal of the sort he opened to get into this corridor, but the lock mechanism won't slide to release the bolt at all. There's definitely noise from behind those barricades, though. Foot traffic. Where is he? He's guessing there's a passage connecting the lower level of the Institute to their bunkers.

Where would Yuuri, or whoever else, come looking for him? What time is it? When will the Breach open? The earth shakes under his feet.

Until then, he's got more curiousity to satisfy, keep him from going stir-crazy.

He returns to Sofya's room. Looks at her quietly for some moments. Then, like the techs showed him and Yuuri when they proposed it as solution for his copilot, he finds the other set of light pons grips on the other side of the apparatus. Maybe it's the same machine.

He sits down, back against the machine, so he would be hidden from sight if someone walked in. Then he closes his eyes and puts on the device.

If Lilia's keeping her down here for a reason, he'll find it.

_{A city rampaged, in the process of destruction. She's lost her shoe. She has to find it. Her mom and dad went shopping. She got lost in the crowds._

_Though there are people running everywhere, she's small enough that she can go where she wants even in the flood of evacuees. Skittering roars fill the air; dust flies and buildings crumble. She still hasn't found her red shoe, and somehow she is in a back alley by a dumpster - but by then the noise of people has been replaced by something much worse. It's the sound of a monster._

_She covers her ears and screams as the noises draw closer. The child she is, it's as good as right at her back._

_But, after a while, shrieks and screeches from the monster, it's suddenly quiet._

_Everything is grey and turned to rubble in the streets. She walks out, sniffling, walk stilted in yet-lingering terror. Where are mom and dad?_

_Out in the street, one-shoed, she turns her face to the sunrise and shields her eyes with a hand; there's a monster standing before her, but it's not the one lying slain and stinking behind her._

_It's a metal monster. It's a good one, she feels. The monolith sits down on knees before her, still as tall as the shopping mall she was in earlier today. She strains her neck, up, up as someone emerges from the head of the Jaeger (because she's old enough to have a concept of them): it's a man, and he smiles. Another man joins him on top and stretches. The first man climbs down._

_She immediately runs, crying, into his arms._

_The image of a red shoe remains._

_RED SHOE._

_Then pass many years in quick succession. Fame. Work. Achievements. Need. Darkness. Inability. Consequences._

_She earns awards and bruises, makes speeches and history and costly mistakes._

_It's only ever_ herself  _she wants to put at risk for all the discoveries she makes. She starts, stops when she has a son, and starts again. Goes too far._

 _And eventually she's alone. She stays to weaving and her inks. Her task is to ring the bell when she feels_ them  _coming, and it's simple. Mama has given her that job. It's the least she can do . . . }_

Viktor comes up for air, taking off the pons and standing rather quickly, almost tripping over the rifle slung over his shoulder. He's breathing fast. It's all much too strange. He's shaken. Of course the little girl was Sofya. Of course the pilots were Nikolai and Yakov. This was the Onibaba. It's a page from her childhood. And it's a page from his - because his mother had the exact same, he could've  _sworn,_ the exact shame red shoe polished and hanging as decor in the hall to his parents' bedroom - it was even the left one, the missing one.

The story is that Sofya's parents were never found in the aftermath, assumed dead as so many were that day.

Viktor forcefully brushes the coincidence from his mind. He remembers the focus on  _RED SHOE_ which seems more like some sort of codeword than anything. That's good information, right there.

And then, impressions, flashbacks from her work -- of course, everyone knows Sofya Satina went insane because she took her own experimental drugs. But now Viktor knows exactly why her son's how he is. She didn't consciously _do_ anything to him -- she didn't realize she was going to have a child and all the effects of whatever she was trying at the time went straight through to Yurio. Now it's clear she stopped once she found out, but it wasn't soon enough.

The room is too stuffy and old. He has to leave.

The earth shakes as he travels back, and once more as he sits himself to the side of the metal door he opened from the room he originally escaped from, gun in hand, ready if someone comes through as he did.

 _Did they find Yuuri, too?_ But that thought just sinks Viktor's spirits like a offline Jaeger so he doesn't think it.

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"We  _need_ Chris! I don't know where they would have put him!"

Yuuri Katsuki is freaking out.

The Breaches are also freaking out. Loudspeakers throughout the Institute interrupt Yuuri:

_Militia, prepare to move out. Kai2s, twenty minutes to neural handshake. Breach opening in eighty-three minutes._

His sister, already running at full speed with the preparations, zipping between divisions and departments, inside and outside, has pulled him aside into the cold specimen storage closet after he burst into the room she was working in. Mari might be mostly working with people on their side, but anyone could enter.

Metal shelves hold a myriad of labelled plastic and glass containment jars; a clear-doored fridge alone on one wall. Small room, brightly lit.

"I had to hide in there but all they did was come in and look, I think, they didn't search it, but I hid in there for a  _long_ time so I didn't follow them when they took him-" Yuuri's words run together.

Mari Katuki grabs her brother by the upper arms and attempts to shake him off the panic.

"Listen! Listen! Yuuri! You need to  _not_ panic right now! Hey!  _Hey, Yuuri!_ "

Yuuri's breathing too fast. In his eyes you might see a realization that he needs to listen to his sister but his body's already on the fast-tracked response. Frantically he clutches at his chest, the light, blue, long-sleeved shirt he's wearing, still hyperventilating and struggling to slow down his breathing, but Mari pulls him out so he doesn't crumple and keeps him in a vicegrip.

"Come on Yuuri, come on, that's right, come on we need you," Mari says as slowly Yuuri manages to iron out the catches in his breath, his chest stops rising and falling so desperately. "OK, can we talk? Can you talk now?"

Yuuri nods, staccato, gasps, "Yes," takes a few normal breaths. "OK, yes," he says. He doesn't apologize. They  _are_ siblings, after all.

"So you did or did  _not_ fix the failsafe?"

Yuuri nods. "I got it."

"OK. How long has it been since Viktor got caught? Did they see  _you_ at all?"

Yuuri shakes his head. "Don't think they saw me and I think it's been 20 minutes." He squeezes his eyes shut. "I was so afraid of getting out of that room, kept thinking I heard people walking by-"

"Better that you're here now than caught. All right. Um, I think you should just chill and pretend like you don't know that Viktor's been taken somewhere. Like, go to the Knocks or something. Don't make anyone suspicious."

"When will Chris be back? He'll know where Viktor could be."

"I don't know. I'll ask, uhhh, I think Cindy and Leanh can spare some minutes. Snoop around. You just stay out of trouble. This place isn't that big."

As Mari's pushing him out of the cold storage, Yuuri says,

"Oh - oh, Yurio might know! I mean, Lilia and him-"

"Nuh-uh-uh. We are  _not_ doing that. Yurio's really not a chill option right now."

"You sound like the Triple!"

"What? 'Chill' is a perfectly legitimate word. Get downstairs. I'll find Leanh."

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Yuuri Katsuki's approached from where his footsteps beat relentlessly on a treadmill by a slight, dark-skinned woman. This room of the Knocks is almost totally deserted. Everyone's getting ready to move out should the Breaches rupture.

"Yuuri, we didn't find Viktor, but we suspect he's been put in the corridors connecting here to the bunkers," she says in a softly accented tone.

Katsuki slams the red button and jumps off the treadmill.

"Where?"

"I can show you, but you can't get in. No one can without clearance. Lilia's wrist access would open it, and probably Chris'. I believe Liang and Tasnime can also access."

Liang and Tasnime are the two main militia commanders of the two divisions Black Tiger has stationed in this part of the world: Gold Claw and Red Claw.

"No," Katsuki shakes his head. "That won't work!"

Leanh shakes her head in agreement.

"Can we force our way in? Blow it up?"

"Not if you still want to keep us secret."

Katsuki wildly pushes his hair back from his face, his forehead and chin wet and dripping with sweat. "But I can't pilot without him! We  _need_ Viktor! He's the one running this whole thing-" A flash of realization jolts through the Ranger's posture. "-Lilia gave Yurio wrist access! I'll bet his thing opens it. I'll bet you anything."

"Yuuri, your sister said-"

"Yurio and I are -" Katsuki turns to go, but looks back around - "- tell Mari we're  _chill._ "

Before Leanh can say more, Katsuki's swiped his phone off the ledge of the treadmill and is sprinting off.

And thirty seconds after that, the notification broadcasts throughout the Institute:

_Kai2s, 10 minutes to neural handshake._

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Viktor tenses at the sound of the door opening in the room beyond. He  _prays_ it's Yuuri, or someone on their side - no, it's not Yuuri, no hint of a ghost as they approach. They walk very quietly. Maybe they're stopping to inspect the broken ziptie on the floor.

Heart pounding as it should be, Viktor fixes his hold on the rifle, prepares to step out and confront whoever this is- they must be close enough by now-

"Viktor?" comes the unmistakably sulky tone of Yuri Plisetsky as Viktor whips around and finds the barrel of his weapon lined up to shoot straight through the kid.

Puffing an exhale out, Viktor bobs the weapon down - thinks twice - then completely lowers it.

"I'm here 'cause your fiance sent me," Yurio justifies.

_Not because you actually wanted to save me, I get it._

"Lilia's busy with army stuff outside. Kai2s are loading up really soon. Do whatever the fuck you want." Yurio shrugs and steps aside.

Viktor gives a shake of his head, motioning to the corridor behind him. "Have you been down here?"

Yurio wrinkles his nose. "No," he says belligerently.

"You need to see something."

"Don't you want to get up there?" Yurio jerks a thumb behind him, the door open. "We've got like . . . five minutes before neural handshake. And Yuuri's playing dumb, but he won't be able to soon."

Viktor points behind him. "Room 103. Lilia has secrets, Yurio. I'm not saying she's evil. I'm not saying she's the devil. But you need to face the truth about her."

Then he brushes past the Ranger, dashes back through the open door into a lighted, more well-travelled corridor with clear signs back to the Institute, leaving Yurio to choose for himself.

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Plisetsky enters Room 103.

"Мама," he says, the word exiting almost like an exclamation, but it's still a whisper.

This Ranger never does anything slowly in life, but now he does. It's like there's a wall of thick water pushing him back from the approach, but he steps forward. Until he's reflected in the curved shielding between him and his sleeping mother.

He puts a hand on the clear curved surface. The lights inside the bed shine up on his face. Green eyes like fresh broken glass.

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When Viktor gets back upstairs, praying that Yurio will come to his senses, he tries to not attract  _too_ much attention and reaches out in ghost for any hint of Yuuri. He heads towards the bay where the Kai2s will be waiting for their pilots. Maybe he's hyperaware, but it doesn't seem like his stunt has become public news amid all the other rushing around. He'd prefer to take a slower pace, because really he is  _so_ fucking blind, but somehow he manages not to bump into anything and guide himself by the feel of the walls and his sense of direction.

He approaches the outdoors-ish bay with half a roof, to put himself directly in the line of sight of the four Kai2s, MHeart throbbing up to power. When he enters, just a bit, poking himself in, there's . . . . three figures, what must be the Triple suiting up and one figure off to the side and a handful of other people come marching straight in the east entry.  The lone figure -- he'd know it anywhere though it's just a blurry outline -- there's Yuuri! But - he glances behind himself, no one coming -- he turns back around, hidden behind the port entrance. The indistinguishable group of people has drawn closer and stopped; must be Lilia at the forefront talking to Yuuri: it's her, he recognizes from her voice. The posse with her half-surrounds Yuuri. Viktor's got a mind to stay out of sight and trail them to wherever she takes Yuuri, but then all of sudden there are footsteps behind him again. He whips around, looks down the halls that split left and right, and of course straight ahead -- but by the time his shit eyesight will let him identify where they're approaching and where to hide, it's too late. The same group that caught him and dumped him downstairs comes sprinting out of the right hall and Viktor's cornered, grabbed a hold of roughly.

He struggles for the show of it as they push/drag him out into the bay, where everyone's attention goes to him; they stop him a few feet in front of Lilia and Yuuri, the ghost opens up:  _are you OK?!_ from Yuuri as Yuuri lunges towards Viktor but the ragtags who have come with Lilia restrain him in a similar fashion to Viktor himself.

Yuuri kicks briefly then settles to shoot Lilia a venomous glance from under his black hair, flung this way and that over his forehead.

"It seems that I cannot trust either of you. I'm sorry to have to do this," Lilia says, no deviation from her usual stately tone. "But we will make do with one fewer Kai2." She sighs. "I was hoping for a better outcome." Then she turns to Viktor and her gaze narrows. Her green stare is sharp and intimidating; every line of her face and slant of her brow comes into sharp focus to Viktor, thanks to Yuuri. "And you got out somehow."

"Not my fault these guys can't lock a door behind them," Viktor spits and receives an extra twist of his arms behind his back, grunts and shuts up.

"Look, you weren't around, neither was Chris, Mari needed to see blueprints in your office," Yuuri says.

Lilia pushes some stray wisps of hair back from her face and folds her arms. She wears a deep crimson, high-necked blouse, made of some thick material, with black cuffs, and a pair of high-waisted black pants that bloom out then cinch at the heels. Not as fancy as usual, more functional. "Don't try to cover for your copilot. There are other interests at play here, and war is not a game. Nikiforov, you've made yourself a loose end I must tie up for now."

"How do you know?" Viktor says. He'd like to know who's the snitch, though he's got a bad feeling he knows who.

"My Yura says the PPDC never did anything for him," Lilia says quite simply, then orders the militia holding the two Rangers away.

They're taken below ground again, put in different rooms. No zipties this time, but the soldiers make to bolt the solid metal doors ('94' and '96' are the numbers outside) shut - both Viktor and Yuuri make dashes for the exit but are clubbed down by the ends of weapons. Yuuri slumps and the ghost goes dark.

Then they're left in darkness. These doors have no windows in them. Viktor rubs his head dizzily and gets up, feels around the room, goes to the side which adjoins Yuuri's cell but no ghost is there. Viktor sighs to himself. He kicks the wall. He kicks the wall again. It's empty in the room except for a smell that reminds him of the K if it were never cleaned; there are some hooks on one wall and rougher spots on the floor. There's a pit in his stomach to think that Yurio really  _did_ snitch on them.

Of course he tries the door. He kicks it. He shoulders against it. He tries to find any chance of disabling the lock from the inside. Out of pure frustration he barrels into it and knocks himself over and yells, "Fuck  _you!_ " at it.

But none of this does any good.

Neither does wanting to stab his eyes out because if he  _had_ been able to see like a normal human being he could've seen the capture party coming before they got him and he might've been rescuing Yuuri now, not waiting with Yuuri to be rescued.

The Kai2s must be loading up by now. The Breaches must be - sure enough, the earth shakes and rumbles under Viktor's hands and knees. And Lilia must be sending some other force to the PPDC and Mila and Sara, Emil and Otabek, Leo and Guang Hong, the new Jaeger pilots - they'll all wait for communication but there will be nothing, Mari can't very well leave her post to monitor what's happening out in the ocean and the Tango won't be there to pick up the payload Chris dropped off and it'll go to all-out war between the PPDC and Black Tiger and maybe even Russia and China and - and  _the Breach won't be closed._ People will keep dying just the same.

Because Viktor and Yuuri have been tossed like Kaiju trash into the underground of the Institute and there's no  _fucking_ way to get out.

There's no rational way to calm down, either.  _Maybe - maybe if they know we're missing, Minako and Mari can work out some way to assign our jobs to the other Jaegers. But it's the Tango that has the halfdrifts, the Tango and the PTS._ So then that won't work. Well, at least not without Yurio's cooperation, which they were quite vainly hoping for when the halfdrifts were put in his Kai2. Knowing he both  _told_ Lilia Viktor's plans and then  _broke Viktor out_ \- Viktor doesn't know where Yurio's allegiance lies. With both parties, for sure, but how much weight does he have on each side? Did he go see Sofya? Did he do something stupid? Will he?

-  _Viktor?_ Yuuri says in ghost, faint at first, their connection getting stronger as Viktor fumbles in the dark to the closer wall and presses himself to sit against it. He knows Yuuri's right on the other side.

-  _Oh good, you're awake._

_\- They didn't hit me too hard . . . is there a way out?_

_\- . . . Not on my end._

Yuuri says he's going to check his room. After a few minutes, he reports back the same hopeless condition.

 _\- The Kai2s will be leaving soon. And there's no way we'll be let out. Mari will have to . . . do this all herself,_ Yuuri says.

_\- She can't. The Tango has the halfdrifts, remember?_

_\- Oh . . ._ A burst of squirming frustration comes through from Yuuri on the other side of the concrete.  _But the Puma-Tiger-Scorpion has them too._

_\- Not looking likely._

_\- No._ A sigh from Yuuri.  _He told on us. He told Lilia - he came to our meetings and . . . but then, he also went to let you out when I asked . . . I thought we had some sort of trust going . . ._

 _\- It's none of his fault,_ Viktor says crossly.  _It's mine. For getting caught. Both times. I couldn't see well enough --_

 _\- Viktor._ Yuuri's tone is reprimanding. Viktor breaks himself from this train of thought. 

_\- Maybe one of the Jaegers could hijack the halfdrifts. Then, not today: Lilia's heading the the shatterdome without us, I think - but if they regroup elsewhere, we could get them wired up that way, grab the payloads on another run-_

_\- That's assuming we get out of here without being strung up like puppets for Lilia to use. And that's best-case scenario._

_\- I'm just trying to -_ Viktor snaps, then cuts himself off, puts his forehead in his hands and smushes his palms against the skin and bone there.  _ARGH! I - we were so close, Yuuri - I know it's not going to work now, I'm just trying to - I don't know what's happened, why everything I'm doing is going so badly -- well I_ do  _know, it's because I'm fucking it up --_

 _\- Viktor! Viktor. Sh,_ Yuuri says sternly.   _This is all about your eyesight, hm?_

 _\- I don't know how to take enough precautions to make up for it._ _I guess -- some sort of false bravado, thinking I can just run in as if I had 20/20 vision and completely missing Lilia's henchmen when I heard --_

 _\- Viktor! If you say one more word about how you think it's_ your  _fault we got here --_

_\- It's partially my fault --_

_\- then tell me why you should have bothered dragging us to shore after Pitfall? Tell me why you bothered getting us both to safety in the old shatterdome? Because if you didn't we would be dead already and have avoided your -- your perceived failing,_ Yuuri sputters at the end.  _So there._

Viktor shuts his eyes and rubs them hard.  _Yuuri . . . please, I've just been a fool. Maybe this whole plan is the insatiable dreamer in me. I don't know why anyone agreed to it. I don't know why anyone thinks it will work. I don't know why_ you  _think it will work, why you stuck with me on it --_

-  _It's like you said, like we said. We're still Rangers. It's our duty. And besides, I couldn't leave you, Viktor. Not when we've come so far._

 _\- I might leave me,_ Viktor says a little dryly.  _At least have a look around. See if there's a better option._

 _\- I could search the whole world, no one's better than you,_ Yuuri says quietly in the ghost.

At this, Viktor's silent. He swallows. Yuuri trusts him, it's him and Yuuri together and he can't allow himself to give into his individual shortcomings, not now. He's got to acknowledge who's beside him every step. To do less would be a great dishonor. 

 _\- You're too good for me,_ Viktor says, it's low, like he's reading the conclusion of a textbook paragraph where it brings all the information together and explains exactly  _why._

-  _And you, me,_ Yuuri returns.

Maybe that's why they make such a good team.

Some moments pass before Yuuri continues, commenting,

_\- OK, well, Yurio could still come around._

Viktor finds his own hopes are bleak for that, but he won't give in to such final dismay, not yet.

_\- I found his mother down here, in some sort of dream sleep like they suggested for you when you were still not on your meds._

_\- Whaaat?! Sofya?_

_\- Yes - I told Yurio to go have a look. Not sure if he did or not._

The earth rumbles again.

 _\- Maybe the door will crack open,_ Yuuri says, half-joking, in a bleak tone.

_\- Or the floor will and we'll be swallowed up by the Breach itself._

_\- How fitting, Viktor._ There's what feels like a roll of the eyes.  _I'm still marrying you._

 _\- Even if we get trapped in here forever,_ Viktor says, trying to make it as light as possible.

_\- Of course._

As if there's no doubt about it, or any doubt about anything. Viktor closes his eyes and exhales forcefully, head back against the cold wall.

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 _OK, Viktor and Yuuri were supposed to be in the Kai2 bay and so I was there to send the neural handshakes through but Lilia was there and I asked here where they were? I already had bad feelings because there were the new staff replacing the Triple beside me at the command desk and then some of her preferred militia came up behind me and blocked me off from leaving. And Lilia was just like,_ do your job.  _And all these guys and girls have their guns and crap and I'm freaking out - the Triple's getting into their Kai2, and Yurio was there, he just shot me some indiscernable look before heading into the PTS himself - of course I was freaking out! I was like, to Lilia,_ uh, uh OK yeah for sure . .. they'll be here later?  _And she didn't answer, just told me to get the neural handshakes through._

_Last I heard was that Yuuri had got the failsafe fixed and Viktor had been found, Leanh was going to tell Yuuri where he was - and now they're both missing._

_Then Chris walked in, fresh off a jet I'm sure, with Mathieu Suire and I would have actually reacted to that but my level of alarm was too high to do anything besides let all these thoughts race through my head: we need Viktor! The Victory! The halfdrifts! Communication! Carry-through! I can't damn well do it all myself - I've got a route to talk to Minako but if these thugs are gonna stand guard the whole time I can't do that! It's not gonna work, the Sequel's off, that's what I was thinking, this huge terrible sense of doom for our awesome plan but at the same time still trying to figure out a way._

_But what could I do? Lilia left after the Kai2s' handshakes went through and they got to the track down to the bay. I think she and most of the army are heading to the shatterdome. And I had a million questions for Chris and Yurio but I couldn't get any of that communication off with the posse guarding me. I so badly wished Celestino and Chau and other A-teams had been assigned to be here, too, but no, they're stationed in the reception bay for Kaiju parts._

_I was trying not to worry too much about Yuuri and Viktor, cause I know they'd want me to try and hold up the fort on my own, I know they would want me to keep on-mission, but I swear if Lilia's touched a hair on Yuuri's head I_ will  _make sure something damn ugly is done to her._

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The silence is only interrupted by the sound of Viktor's own breathing and the shaking of the floor underground. There's been some heavy shaking like footsteps that's almost definitely the Kai2s moving out, as strong as the quakes that vibrate the rooms the copilots are trapped in. Viktor has checked the door again but nothing's budged a bit.

Yuuri and him have lapsed into silence, the ghost still open between them if anything needs to be said. Viktor rubs the ring on his fourth finger while he sits, so far from hope.

Underneath and around him, everything quakes again. But instead of dying down, the shakes continue. Debris drifts and then pelts down on Viktor's head; he gets to his feet, shakily bracing himself against the wall -  _this one's bad, maybe we'll get out_ \- but it's getting so intense there's a forceful  _THUD-D-D-D_ and Viktor stumbles, he grasps at a ledge on the door for a hold and then a deafening sound of metal bashing through metal and concrete and dirt which shakes Viktor's world as much as the quakes. Light floods in; debris drops; steel rods bent and concrete lying in chunks as some huge contraption reaches through the ceiling of the room and then pushes through the wall to Yuuri's room, the barricade giving way like a soda cracker.

Red panelling, silver joints, synthetic muscle, blue-glowing veins big enough to swim in thrumming with gushing white-blue energy.

Viktor and Yuuri, still ghosting, agreeing, clamber into the PTS' hand and hold on for dear life as their stomachs sink to their feet and they're lifted up two hundred and some feet out of their prison, into the sky.

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The Puma-Tiger-Scorpion quickly covers the distance from the bunker tunnels where it detected two heat signatures to the open bay area, body is shining as water streaks off it. It went for a swim as requested but turned back around.

Uncaring for the wall, the Kai2 kicks right through the newly-erected bay barrier, into the room which is mostly empty now except for the Tango Victory still and silent, and of course, the crew at the command desk, projection screen on the opposite wall. The staff are surrounded by a ring of militia with weapons out.

Most of them immediately point at the Kai2, tiny dots though they be from up at its pilot's height; one presses the comm in her ear and starts talking; a third nudges her pistol point-blank at the back of the head of Mari Katsuki.

Viktor and Yuuri, clinging to two of Yurio's fingers as the metal beast moves and now stops, dare to look down below:

"Mari!" Yuuri yells, and Viktor twists around to see through the hub, there's Yurio in his heavy drivesuit talking, probably to Mari even as she's held at gunpoint. Standoff.

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_So what comes walking into the bay, I mean, crashing through the wall into the bay, but the PTS holding Yuuri and Viktor! But what a bad idea because there I was, my life on the line thanks to Black Tiger if Yurio should move an inch closer to the Tango Victory. I'd never had a gun to my head before then and let me tell you it's terrifying. And then there was someone reporting to Lilia who'd moved off-base by then, telling her what was up and they made me tell Yurio that he had to stay put or else I die. Nice, reporting my own possible death, I managed to stutter it out somehow._

_I couldn't believe Yurio had come through for us, after all - but much damn good that had done -_

_But suddenly there was this hissing fwoosh sound and I recognized it instantly. A-team had a pizza party with B-team last week and we got to see some of the things they were developing. Basically, that sound meant_ hold your breath,  _as we all learned, that night, so I did. But then there was this gunshot! And I thought I had died for like two seconds before realizing I wasn't actually in pain! And I almost breathed but there was the very smoky cloud fwooming up which reminded me I shouldn't breathe, so I just squeezed my eyes shut and focused on holding my breath and there were more gunshots before someone grabbed my chair and rolled me halfways across the bay and I finally got to breathe._

_I hopped out of my chair and looked around and there was the Black Tiger guard on me passed out on the floor due to the B-team canister: the woman who'd had the gun to my head was down as well, and there was blood trailing from her. Who'd rescued me? Why it was Celestino and a whole bunch of the other A-division staff on my side! Oh damn! I was so proud of them! Look at us nerds, kicking ass!_

_So Yurio put Viktor and Yuuri down at the hub of the Victory as we got the MHeart going._

_Someone woke up the girl who'd been talking with Lilia and forced her to say that everything was fine, ha ha ha! I mean, Lilia will probably know something's up, but she's flown out already with her personal army._

_Yurio turned around to get back on track, Viktor and Yuuri hopped in their Kai2 and the neural handshake went through - and they moved out. I opened my patch to the PPDC and said hi to Minako. Apologized for the delay._

_It was then I felt we had a shot at it all._

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Despite the storm clouds curling heavily above the Pacific ocean, getting only heavier and more threatening as one reaches the epicenters of the Breach, there are news agencies flying out to try and get this event. Emergency notices already flood every news website and TV channel, even for inland countries that don't immediately border the ocean. (The other half of international news is devoted to the conflict in Russia and how China and the US are getting caught up in the civil strife and concerns for surrounding states.)

_All four Jaegers have been deployed, but will it be enough to hold back the number of Kaiju suspected to emerge from the enlarged Breach . . . Experts say it's a vicious circle, as Breach openings increase seismic activity which then contribute to more Breach exit sites . . . Evacuation alerts on for the west coast of America, where municipalities are unprepared for this recent hurricane threat . . . May see the most disastrous earthquakes yet, Dr. Howitt, who is a professor of solid earth geophysics at Yale University, joins us to explain why we could be breaking records with a 9.8 magnitude quake today . . ._

Like some great gods of the storm, guardians, a last defense, through the lashing rain and waves stride the Cherno Alpha, Phoenix Fist, Gipsy Danger, Eden Assassin. Helicopters buzz about, hanging floodlamps to illuminate the way. The giants are epically strong and magnificently steady in their pace, not one leading the way, instead a spaced-out wall that moves towards the Breach(es) slowly.

_. . . has left the world wondering if we'll see any Kai2s on scene today. Many see this as an almost definite suicide mission for the PPDC without extra support . . ._

And then, in newsrooms the world over: an explosion of different versions of  _are you seeing this?_

Because, all of a sudden, the Jaegers move slightly apart laterally. What for? And then four Kai2s in varying shades of red breach the surface, their own head-and-body lamps slicing paths of light through the rain, alternating in formation: Jaeger, Kai2, Jaeger, Kai2. And they march on like this, an expanded force, a row of warriors to be reckoned with.

. . .  _are PPDC and Black Tiger working together in the face of the expanded Breach openings? . . . new Kai2s from Black Tiger, and a three-armed design we haven't seen before . . . who has information on the pilots of these new Kai2s please contact NTS One at . . ._

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"Sound check," Viktor says, striding through the waves with the Tango's MHeart reactor beating through him and around him. The drift is bright and bold with determination, nerve like it's never had before.

"Viktor!" Mila's voice comes happily, if a little fuzzy, in his ear. "You made it. Who else is here?"

"I dragged myself off a poolside to make it," Chris sings.

"Chris!" The exclamation is more astonished.

"Who's in there with you?" asks Yuuri.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" from Chris. A humph and then, French accent,

"He's very good at making up."

Viktor knows the voice: "Suire! Ha! What did I tell you, Chris?" he almost chortles.

"We're on good terms now," Chris says. Viktor instantly suggests to Yuuri that all four of them go out on a double-date to a piano bar after this all is over. Yuuri's in no mood for play, but he gives Viktor an obligatory half-chuckle.

"And Yurio? You there?" Mila continues.

"Yeah," from him.

Viktor can hear even just in that short word the cloud hanging over his head. Viktor-Yuuri decides they'll switch onto private chat with him if they get a chance. But they might not.

"Who's in the three-armed one?" asks Emil. "It looks really impressive man!"

The Triple introduces themselves. After a few minutes, the ice is broken and all eight mechs sober back down to the task at hand. Chris does quite a bit of the explanation. Then Mari puts everyone on mute to the Triple and Viktor quickly goes over the general sweep of the plan. The Phoenix is easily able to pick up one payload downloaded to its coordinates and the Tango will take the other one. Then, if Mari and Minako are able to ascertain that the Breach throats have all been joined to one, the Tango will use its halfdrifts to take a dive and blow the whole thing shut. Not enough time to talk to, to trust, Yurio; Viktor says that the PTS' halfdrifts are a backup in case the Tango's get damaged.

Then they're back in common chat area.

Mari updates the Kai2s on how close they are to intercept. She says Minako's talking to the Jaegers; each half of their fleet has its own remote command. Between this, Jaegers and Kai2 names go back and forth, a second round of introductions.

"There's no name," one of the Triple says when Leo asks about their Kai2.

"You  _need_ a name, though," Mila says.

To Viktor-Yuuri, the chat atmosphere is eerie. It's too lighthearted for the task coming up before them, in the storm thickening and darkening around them. 3:22 p.m., but could be ten at night for all they can see and the waves choppy around them.

Eventually theirs is decided upon to have the honorary Jaeger-style name  _Crimson Typhoon._ Then it's Chris and Suire. Viktor says he's going to call their Kai2 the  _Breakup Make-up._ Suire coolly vetoes that and suggests something with roses. Chris puts forward  _Naked Rose._ Sounds like a sweet red wine, he says.

In drift, Viktor-Yuuri decides not to tell the PPDC Jaegers about Lilia's move on their base. They'll save that for later. Mari already says she's on alert and communicating with really the only person who would be in trouble if the shatterdome were seiged by Black Tiger, in context of the Sequel mission: Minako.

"Yo guys, it's just me," Mari says to the Tango privately. "Is everything good?"

They give the affirmative.

"You're fifteen minutes out, give or take. Uh, yeah, things are pretty good over here. Science staff outnumbers the soldiers, so I was like, instead of standing around, why don't you, like, take over the Institute? We can lock Lilia out of her own HQ while she's off trying to take another. It was just an idea but B-team was really on board, they wanted to try out all these things they've been engineering, so I guess we're trying to capture the facility and then I'll tell Minako she can fly up here."

"If the weather's good enough," Yuuri warns.

"Mm, it's getting bad," Mari agrees. "Hey, guys? I know we're all super excited about this and I know we really  _really_ want it to work, but please, if you - you know, something goes wrong and you're gonna die in there - save it for another day."

Viktor-Yuuri has already considered this at length. Before they detemined they were the ones who'd be riding a Kaiju into the Breach.

"If something goes wrong," Yuuri says, emphasizing one half of the clause.

Mari sounds like she's struggling with what to say from the static on the other end.

"Don't die," is all she says, like she's saying  _please._

"Not if we don't have to," Viktor returns.

"You still have to get married," Mari says.

"We do," Yuuri agrees.

The drift smiles and boils, laughs and cries: wordless, indescribable paradoxes. There are no lies here. What's coming deserves the truth about its possible consequences.

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When they're in range, the fleet of Jaegers and Kai2s submerges. The Breach is astonishingly bright and flaming, visible from much farther out than it's been before; even the two additional sites north of the main throat are points in the murky darkness of the ocean floor. All the mechs switch off head and body lamps.

Mari gives her usual frequent updates.

"Hey wedding party, everything's looking on schedule, I'll give you 30 seconds and then Naked-Chris-Breakup-whatever-"

"God, she's a great upgrade from LOCCENT!" Chris cuts in, sputtering.

"- _you,_ Chris and Suire, go with the Phoenix to pick up their payload. And Tango, get off to pick up yours. You're still good to lock it in yourself?"

"It says the payload lock is online," Yuuri reports.

"OK. Get out of here, guys. And come back fast. Breaches are all spiking. I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm going to talk with Minako for a bit. Mari out!"

The Tango gives an OK sign to the Phoenix and Chris and Suire, then turns to pursue the orange arrow overlaid on its hub view that will direct it to the explosives which will join four Breach throats together. The Phoenix's will complete the train of five and make one long furrow into wherever the hell the Kaiju come from, between the plates. If everything goes according to plan.

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All the Jaegers and Kai2s reach their designated spots. They're several hundred meters out from the plate split, spaced out so they can cover B5 and B1, 2 and 3; a bit of a longer distance to the northernmost one. Enough to see each other if they look to the left and right.

The idea is to wait until the Kaiju come through to go down and set off the explosives. Downside: there's less opposition for Kaiju that come through. Upside: the payload carriers don't run into a horde of the aliens on their way down. The latter was considered the deal-breaker.

Waiting's getting tense. Mari is even quiet. All she says is that Minako says everything's smooth sailing so far at the PPDC. At Black Tiger, they've secured about 75% of the facility. Minako's trying to charter a jet up there, but weather conditions are making it hard for her.

Viktor-Yuuri  _could_ put themselves on private chat with Yurio. They feel their balance readjusted, stance firm and weighty in the ocean floor with the payload on their back now. Every so often they fall off-balance and have to readjust due to seismic activity under their feet. The Breaches lance and throw orange-blue watery flames out in fits and spurts, like some strange underwater sun. Anytime now.

They decide to talk with Yurio later.

"Hey Yurio . . . uh, any idea what's coming out of there? My stuff really can't read all this acitivity, it's off the charts," Mari asks, sounding like it's quite intrepid to talk to the pilot right now; no one knows really what's up with him.

"Nothing good," is the reply. "Lots, probably."

And 22 seconds later,

"WHOOOOO HERE WE GO THERE'S DILATION, OH SHIT!" from Mari. Quaking intensifies.

Murmuring from Yurio, culminating in, "Fuck there's like fourteen of them," as the Breach  _blurps_ open, lighting up the area starkly like the epicenter of fireworks; the waiting fleet shields their Connpod and hub windows, turning away from the belching blast.

There have been strong flashbacks of  _last time_ cutting through the drift. Viktor-Yuuri realizes this is somewhat of problem, that their heartrates leap up and something like  _fear_ as they're strongly tempted to flash forward to what happened the first Pitfall fun. Alone, they might have fallen inwards, imploded to immobility. But together? They remind themselves that fear is the preparation for payback. It's the right response, it's what will get them through this mess, it will quicken every step and turn and blow.

So as a huge army of black against the Breach light, light-blue-green-shining skin patterns, unfurls and births from tendrils of the energy that allowed it passage, the Tango jets forward, GD-6 chain sword unfurling and snapping into place. They might be going to skip the party, but they'll crash through and take out what they can on the way.

A charge of epic proportions where carefully-crafted networks of steel and electric networks meet biological terrors. Metal blades meet claws and teeth as the two fronts slam together. Yurio goes straight for a Raiju, easy target, buffers an initial blow and cuts it deep in the known weak spots with blades, DKNTN injecting. The Eden's slammed to its back by a Scunner but turns the encounter into a 360 degree somersault, scraping the underside of the beast by jamming its twin crescent saw blades into its thick skin. Together, Phoenix and Chris and Suire make messy work of a Yamarashi, splitting limb from limb, as they head to their assigned point.

Tango's got the choice of a Slattern or - a Reckoner?  _haven't seen that face in five years,_ it's a little like a multi-limbed Pachycephalosaurs crossed with a Humpback Whale. Bad decision on the Kaiju's part to make for a point-blank headbutt on the faster Tango, which evades and attempts to stab through its back, but withdraws the chain sword: the thorny horns encirling the domed head plate continue down the spine of the creature. So instead they jet backwards and grab the end of its tail, which is flanked with fins and clubbed at the end. The Reckoncer swings them through the water as it circles to bite its tail - at least, biting is what they  _think_ it'll do until two large holes in line with its eyes open, they're set forward and glowing blue.

Viktor-Yuuri pounce up, foot jets blasting, as the Reckoner release a bloom of bright, inky liquid that furls outward like ripples: it reminds them too much of Otachi's spit. But then the Slattern's on them with its tail -  _not this again! -_ and a spike of adrenaline and fear and intensity and courage all at the same time charges a powerful upper strike, cutting through the three-ended tail that's wrapped around them. The Slattern rears its head back and wheels in pain, but then here comes the Reckoner, eye-spots full and open.

Tango crushes itself flat down on the ocean floor, snaking the chain sword back to withdrawal and instead ejecting the DKNTN-loaded scythe blades. They wriggle forward and jut up to bury the points deep in the belly of the Reckoner, twisting the body back and away from them. A crushing pain on either side of the Tango's abdomen jerks them out from where they're embedded in their target as the Slattern snatches them away; they only just get an arm up to defend from the toothed maw of the Kaiju threatening to rip through the watertight hub.

 _Knees up, jets on full! -_ all they can do is maneuver their captor back and as it comes down for another chew, they give it a good punch to the nose with their free hand, blade withdrawn. Slattern screeches. Their fist smarts but they're free for the moment. Whirling, they whip the other bladed arm back across Slattern's neck. The slice goes deep and they vault over the creature, no more time to fight and risk dislodging the payload - they're off to the very northernmost point of B1.

It only takes 17 seconds to reach the location. They're in on the communication between everyone else trying to hold up the fort; seems like they're communicating well; but there are too many calls for help for Viktor's liking. Stone-faced, Viktor-Yuuri knows that's not their job for now, but the sooner they're done, the sooner they can go help.

"Just getting data from Minako," Mari's spilling frantically as they approach the ever-shifting wall of energy the Breach puts up closer, till it's taller than they are,  _twice_ as tall, and they can see the lightning-like blue strands criscrossing the plate gap from time to time, " - we've got two Scunner, a Raiju - that's down - three Slattern, two Mutavore I  _think_ and that upgraded cat-V-Onibaba thing and five more sort of like that, we've seen them but they're bigger and better now- Phoenix, you're good to go, Tango, you too, good good, in position, start the AI and take the dive!"

"Code 645," Viktor says like Mari told him to, to initiate the Pitfall protocol.

But nothing happens; two black rods just swipe back and forth from the top of the hub window border.

"MARI!" Yuuri shouts into the comms. "It's NOT WORKING!"

"Whaddaya mean it's not-"

"It's  _washing our window!"_ Viktor yells.

"It's the  _window wipers!"_ Yuuri hollers.

"Crap I thought I overwrote that - see I didn't want anyone to notice I had added programming -"

"MARIIIIIII!" Yuuri's yelling frantically. Because otherwise the comms are occupied with dialogue from the other Rangers that sounds a lot like they're on the losing side.

"I'm not a computer scientist I'm a biologist OKAY!" Mari yells back, sending the comms bursting into fuzz. There's a half-second of silence that feels like 3 minutes. "Ok, I booted it manually from my end," she says, and up crawls information on the hub window:  _Waiting for dive initiation._ (The wipers still continue across.)

The Tango pilots pause but not too much, and then someone starts the AI and they take the leap down, pushing through the wall of orange, full speed ahead.

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Everything is familiar, but they hold on in spite of it, and on the deepest level, because of it.

Unlock the payload when the AI sense it. Ball up, 180 degrees, jet back out.

Orders come from Mari; they retreat with the Phoenix, given slim warning along with everyone else, and then:

Explosion, double detonation, rocks the whole area in overlapping pulses. Sheer force of it all tosses mechs like scrap parts and Kaiju like minnows in rapids. For a few moments, there's dry land. Then, all the water rushes back, like the Tango's pilots knew it would, they're ready, they give in and don't fight it, accept the rush and disorientation, the battering by debris, slapped in the hub face by a school of fish. Everything comes back in pulses, waves: interference from the two explosion points.

The Tango slows its barrel roll and comes to right itself, blades out, ready for any sudden intruders; it's on the east side of the Breach. Wipers, still going, slide off a piece of seaweed that's sort of stuck to the hub window.

And indeed, it's just one Breach now. They don't need Mari yelling  _SUCCESS!_ in their comms to know. It's just one angry bright wall, ever-shifting, extending a few miles up and down the fault.

Now, if they don't close it all off, well, that will be fucking  _terrible._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yup that's my trope right there


	52. Kaiju Enough

 

 

 

Next step is to grab the third bundle of explosives. That's over on this side of the Breach. As planned, Viktor and Yuuri rush to it, get it locked in, movements fueled by urgency as they listen to the dialogue from the main fray:

" _We've got three on us!"_

_"Coming as soon-"_

_"Careful, this one with all its gums out has got spit abilities!"_

_"Breached the hub! Ripped off shoulder artery-"_

_"Can someone help the Crimson?"_

_"Slattern's getting to shore!"_

_"Eden, can you get off a shot on your right, 10 o'clock-"_

_"Crimson's dark!"_

_"Scunner down but we've lost a claw!"_

The action's been pushed out by the detonation. Now, the Tango's got to find a good Kaiju to ride down there. But approaching the underwater field of each mech set upon by one or two Kaiju - they need to narrow down the choices first.

They go to help Yurio, who has naturally attracted the most attention. Though he's doing quite well - there are a couple dark heaps on the ocean floor surrounding him - there still remains a Kaiceph (with an extending lower jaw edged with gums from which protrude teeth as long as fenceposts, an arena of javelins) and a well-known Scunner.

_Chain sword'll do it._

"Yurio, we're coming for that Scunner! Keep it occupied!" Viktor yells into the comms, and they charge, chain sword extended. Looks like Yurio's gone half-blind with the Kaiceph's maw stretching over the hub, bones of its skull parting to reveal gross blue-pink flesh into which are ingrown an upper set of deadly teeth. Yurio's got the Scunner by its hammerhead horns - perfect, the hulking beast is an easy target and the Tango rips it open from haunches to shoulder, even plowing through its spine.

They stop their momentum and are going to help out with the Kaiceph but the PTS clenches its fists, blades eject, and Yurio arcs them back to puncture straight through the maw of the beast.

"There's more coming," Yurio grunts through the comms as he turns to finish off that Kaiju.

No time to admire the scene. Viktor-Yuuri focuses back in on the dialogue traversing the feeds; the Gipsy's in trouble. They're set upon by -  _not good! -_ a Leatherback. Firing off jets, the Tango gives notice they're coming to the aid of the other Jaeger. One claw's still active, rotating triple blades, but the other arm, which also has the plasmacaster, is currently being used as a cushion by the Leatherback as it rampages. Both monsters are slow, but the Gipsy's a little slower. Sea floor smogs around them like moving dunes as they battle and roll and try to get at each other.

The Tango enters the fray, all grappling and punches. There's no opportunity to stab in with DKNTN at such close quarters. They're on their back, side, standing, flailing, trying to separate the attackers to get a shot in - finally, a clout over the head stuns the Kaiju momentarily, gives them maybe twenty meters' distance before the thing shakes its head, a ring of color lighting up the anemone frills at the back of its crested, small head. Digging clawed leathery paws into the ocean floor, it gallumphs back at the Tango, but Viktor-Yuuri is very ready with hands closed to fists at sides. As the Leatherback launches at them, closing the distance to less than the length of a blade, and they both start toppling, the peaked jaw of the Kaiju opening with the beginning of an EMR blast, the Tango ejects blades. Twin slices deep into the Leatherback's chest on either side of its breastbone.

The Leatherback becomes literal dead weight and the Tango claws itself out from underneath after sucking blades back in, jets up - but something's wrong. Actually, several things are wrong: looking to the Breach, it's unfurling outward like a long flower bud in slow motion to eject more Kaiju at the already beleaguered party of mechs, slashing hopes of cutting a lull into the action and finding a Kaiju to ride in relative peace; the line of Jaegers and Kai2s has been fractured and at least the Crimson's down, the Eden's heavily damaged and the Phoenix's taken a chest injury that'll disable the K-missiles; and now the comm audio spatters fuzzily and several ugly black shocks of emptiness interrupt the drift in close succession. The Tango may have cut off the full EMR blast from the Leatherback, but the pulse at least made it the short distance to the pons and comms between the pilots. Just their luck that, after the Institute raid, drift power was rerouted from nuclear to electrical to avoid the same situation.

Viktor and Yuuri mentally grapple to hold onto each other, the Tango's movement stuttering. Yurio's killed the Kaiceph, but here comes a new set of maybe 3 or 4 Kaiju out of the Breach. The ocean floor and water around them shudders with the arrival of new enemies.

"Some help?" comes from Yurio.

"- can't -" and "- busy -" stutter through the comms in Viktor and Yuuri's ears. The overlay on the hub flashes a drift engagement warning. The AI, usually silent, speaks:  _Losing drift synchronization._

"-get - together, can you -" spuzzles Mari's tone.

 _Yuuri! Viktor!_ they're yelling to each other, struggling to grip the threads of their connection as their worlds slide apart jerkily - if they lose the drift everything's going to go to shit really fast - one moment they've locked in back together and the next they're falling apart.

They manage to get back up and somehow unfurl the chain sword, sashaying and then snapping rigidly into place. Jets fire awkwardly but it's enough to get close to Yurio as the new Kaiju approach, black masses becoming more distinguishable - there's  _another_ Slattern, and what looks to be an upgraded Hammerjaw, and -

A wave of pure instinctual panic avalanches through the drift.  _NO! YUURI-_ Viktor's screaming mentally and it feels like they're just dangling by one held hand because it's a  _Knifehead._ Not the old Knifehead you see on posters and action figures. Oh, it's bigger, and this time the huge sword-like ledge jutting out of its forehead is double-grooved on the top, each edge glowing a sickeningly bright yellow that makes Viktor very sure it's venom of some sort. Six legs, a half-length shell on its haunches, club tail - straight out of nightmares, literally, Yuuri's.

Yuuri's frozen in the drift. But they're close enough to have attracted attention. The drift keeps glitching off and on, and every time their worlds slam back together Yuuri's fallen out a bit more. Suddenly Viktor's straining so hard to move the beast with so little success - if they were on a normal 50/50 physical/mental split he could dial over control to his side, but he can't take 70% of the neural load; that would kill him - he  _can_ take 30 of the physical, though, and he yells the order to the AI. Quickly his movements are rewarded with greater response; as the Knifehead turns to them, interested, and charges, Viktor holds out the chain sword and drops to a knee. It's all he can think to do while straining to hold onto Yuuri. Flashbacks cloud his vision. Emotions from Yuuri fight through what's left of the flickering drift and make  _Viktor_ panicked - he's trying to figure out how to meet the oncoming Kaiju, but -  _fuck!_ \- with the drift goes his vision, his beautiful perfect eyesight through Yuuri's eyes, and he can't tell how the  _fuck_  the Knifehead's coming at them. His world's too quickly flickering from absolute clarity to a dark blur of motion, and Yuuri's panicked and he's  _angry._ They're both helpless. By some mercy the Tango's ducked down enough to barely miss the edge of the Knifehead's forehead blade. Then they catch the tip of the sword on the Knifehead's front legs and roll to the side - a second claw catches on a hip joint and digs a scarring wound to Yuuri's side of the Tango that only ends as Viktor flattens them completely prone, pain sputtering through the in-and-out drift so that Viktor knows Yuuri's got the worst of it.

It was more of an accident that the're still alive. Viktor's  _got to_ get Yuuri back. The new wound, the fresh pain, is just making it worse. He's going to the past. He's going to Phichit's death. He's going straight to the part when  _the Knifehead gores them through the heart -_ and Viktor can't stop him, just try to push their consciousnesses back together. Yuuri's going to the reeling emptiness of the drift, Phichit gone, he's going to the point-blank murder of the offending Kaiju, he's going to the night he got drunk and then the terrors beginning and the decision to leave the program. He's going to the Wall, cold up high on the cubes of metal bars and soldering till his fingers get as numb as his heart and then he's going to the day he comes in for lunch and thinks about calling Mari after knowing he's not going to, for the nth time, and he finds  _General Viktor Nikiforov_ there asking for him. He goes to the Kwoon, when Viktor shrugs off his suit jacket and lifts a bo, twists it in his grip and they spar. He goes to the evening Viktor held him  _sobbing_ in his arms after he had the courage to relive what he's reliving now. He goes to their first, forced mission. He goes to the deepening drift. He goes through every walk with Makkachin, every run listening to opera together, every conversation and sim run and eating and mission they've completed together, to the shared pain and then tormenting hours of helplessly hanging in the drift, holding his injured copilot up after Pitfall, to the days where Viktor's life was uncertain and to the reincarnation of the Tango and to the rings now on their hands and to  _now._ He goes through it all and comes up on the other side.

The Tango comes up on the other side.

Knifehead barrels down, swinging around for another pass.

Doesn't matter.

The Kaiju's forehead spear stabs. Tango ducks and grabs the tri-edged bony projection. Swings legs back around the beast's neck. Rides it upside down. Twin blades out, then slide back and stab down, release, plume of dark blue blood. Again, yawing to the side, bracing against one of its legs, a duplicate double thrust into the Knifehead's chest, still inverted position, and one last stab to its abdomen, just Yuuri's blade, and they rotate along with the roaring alien, carving an excruciatingly deep wound through the Knifehead as it pulls ahead. The blade, releasing DKNTN,  _chocks_ out of the monster at the end of its bony tail; the Tango's upright now and the Knifehead plows into the ocean floor. Sand muddies the water, diffusing the orange glare from the Breach into some hellish scene.

But the Kaiju is dead.

The Tango staggers back. The drift's locked in again. Pain on the left side of the abdomen. Yuuri's reeling. Viktor's vision is back.

Comms are completely out. Kai2s must have the same drift-preservation priority - but, wait, over the helm window it flashes in bold text:  _Synchronization lost. Drift offline._

Viktor-Yuuri notices this at the same time. They turn to each other, steadying themselves.

 _So the ghost isn't such a ghost anymore,_ they think together. It's more than a conversation. Is technology just a crutch?  _Maybe._ Somehow the drift fractured and they glued it back, together. And they move. They move just fine. They're in sync. Viktor feels like it's time to dance, but it's not. It's time to find a Kaiju to ride while the miracle's still working.

They look around; Viktor diverts all electrical power to the comms since apparently they don't need the pons system in hopes it'll boot back up. Yurio's holding his own. How he is - that's a miracle, too. The kid's good. The Ranger's good. But none of those Kaiju look ready or good to saddle up. Check the other way: Phoenix, few hundred meters off, struggles with a Slattern. Now  _that_ would be the thing to ride.

Viktor-Yuuri jet over, blades out. Step one: tail off. Chop and it's done. The beast lets off of the Phoenix, who gives it a healthy punch to the jaw. Before the Phoenix can finish off the Kaiju, the Tango grips the Slattern under the bony wing-like protrusions on either side of its shoulders and drags the writhing creature awkwardly back, finding strength they didn't know was left. Adjusting their grip quickly, the halfdrift points, long and needle-like, slide out and puncture deep into either side of the Kaiju's skull, slanting up. The creature bellows; Yuuri calls out to the AI to engage the halfdrift.

They're wildly unprepared -  _who knows if the ghost will even hold up -_ but it seems to, as what feels a lot like a big, yappy dog enters the mental picture, albeit fuzzy and a little distant. It's quite a bit like Makkachin's puppy days, trying to walk her and almost having both your shoulders dislocated in the process. Here, the dislocation would be, unfortunately, a mental one, and Viktor-Yuuri can't afford that. So jointly they scream at the thing, parasite on their consciousness, both audibly and inaudibly.

The Slattern jerks in their grip. It's wild with the pain of its severed tail. The Tango hangs on by the halfdrift needles and thighs gripping.

But the unusual horse-and-rider swerves and muscles towards the Breach.

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As soon as they cross the net of blue lightning sparking to and fro across the gap between the East and West Pacific plates, a barrage of conversation comes through the comms, systems shocked back up.

"Mari, we're going in!" Yuuri yells over the yowling bleats of the Slattern, both pilots still yanking mental command of it, as they zig-zag closer to where the arrow on their hub window leads them. Most effective epicenter.

"Guys! You're BACK! - it says your drift's offline! The pons has lost power-"

"We're fine!" Viktor shouts back. Technically, shouting doesn't help anything, but it's easier to just shout at this particular moment in time, in this particular situation. There's a hard  _pull_ on his arm and he winces as his shoulder complains; but they keep hold of the rebellious Slattern.

" _How are you even piloting right now?!"_

"Ghosting, I guess!" Yuuri yells back.

"Th-th-that's impossible, guys you can't ride that thing into the Breach just - just  _ghosting -"_

But Viktor-Yuuri knows they can.

"Well it's our only option," Viktor says.

"How are you even-  _and I can't even take measurements, damn it!-"_ Mari rants on.

 _That means go._ The copilots - though right now, Viktor would sooner call them soulmates than anything else - bend the will of the Slattern back down to where it came from. Then, it's just another blazing vertical descent; it's the ride to end all rides. They grip for dear life and don't let up holding onto each other. This is the answer to  _stay close to me._

And everything's going to work. Everything's going to be fine.

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Mari gives updates along with the AI in a confusing way, but they can tell they're getting closer. Closer than with the payload in the original Pitfall. Below, there comes into view, as the orange-streaked walls fly by, some vaguely plant-leaf like blobby shapes at the bottom.

Suddenly, from Mari: " _Holy hell guys TURN AROUND! Turn around! It's gonna bounce you off-"_

 _NO!_ Viktor-Yuuri shouts, but a millisecond later and meters closer they feel that slowing down, the pressure back, and there's the blue net of electricity zapping around them, not the Slattern -  _no it HAS to work -_ in this moment it's Yuuri's rationality, not Viktor's desperation, that he listens to, the trust in Mari, who's still yelling at them, " _guys no! No no no no! It's not gonna work! I'm sorry it's not-"_

"Turning around," Viktor grits out.

And, even as they slow more and jagged blue lines cloud the orange around them, they slip their grasp free of the wounded Slattern. The animal leaves their consciousness. It's like letting go of a dream. It's like letting someone fall to their deaths.

But all the same, they ball up, turn over, jet back to surface.

"Why, Mari?!" they're both asking in one form or the other, desperate, hands tied,  _so close - so close! So close!_

"I don't - let me see - Minako, what are you getting - yeah - oh damn, I thought there was a chance but not in hell would this thing be that smart - imagine the engine needed to  _decode_ a genome that quickly, as it's - "

"MARI!" Yuuri yells, as they're jetting fullspeed back the way they came.

"Sorry guys - it doesn't like you cause you're human. I though it would just be an  _if,_ not and  _if. . . but not if._ It's not just coded  _for_ kaiju. It's coded against anything  _not_ kaiju."

"FUCK!" Viktor yells. "Well what do we do now?!" They're back on the seafloor, back in the fight, Jaegers and Kai2s still struggling against the Kaiju, both sides beaten down. "It has to still work! There's gotta be a way!"

"Even if we get a Kaiju alone down through the breach with the payload on it, which we can't, halfdrifts aren't long enough, we'll lose all contact on the other side almost definitely and there's no way to make sure it detonates correctly," Mari says quickly. A short pause says it all, that she feels as frustrated and sorry as they do. "I'm gonna break the news to everyone." She patches into all the comms and explains speedily.

"What -  _now,_ " Mila fires in reply.

"You need to - you need to get out, you guys are getting beat up, I know you can't take all these Kaiju coming through, and I'll bet anything the Breach  _is_ going to open again," Mari says.

"It  _did,_ " from Yurio, who's laying down yet  _another_ Kaiju carcass. Viktor-Yuuri is eternally grateful he's here. Oh, they'd be in a heap of junk parts by now if he weren't.

"Whoa! Wait - what, oh yeah, I missed it, I was watching the dive- watch out, they're coming up-"

The Tango jets away from the edge of the Breach, towards its battered crew, turning back over its shoulder to look.

A sinking feeling drags the ghost-drift down between Viktor and Yuuri as the crevasse births a concentrated lump of yet  _another_ wave of Kaiju. They can take maybe three more in the state everyone's in.

"Twelve," from Yurio.

It's the end. It's impossible. Hopelessness is cracking the ghost-drift apart. Viktor's going blind every other second. The previous panic sets in. Responsibility is a knife to the heart. Twelve Kaiju will kill them, and more, once they make land.

"Guys, you're offline, I'm telling you-" Mari's still freaking. "Get away from the Breach! Get  _away!_ "

But there's one thing to do, yet, to save lives, and Viktor-Yuuri's on it.

They set auto detonate to 8 seconds, loosen the final payload and chuck it, boosters and all, into the great writhing mass of Kaiju that blots out that section of the Breach like a living eclipse.

"Everyone  _get away from the Breach!"_ they yell and jet off. They grab the hand of some Jaeger that looks like it's down and try to pull it off to safety.

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There goes a couple million dollars of HMX, and our last chance,  _is what I thought when Yuuri and Viktor set off the payload meant to destroy the Breach and save the world in the middle of the group of Kaiju. I mean, sure, it took them all with it. You could see it from the surface, that's how strong it was. But I lost communication with everyone. I didn't know where anyone was. And Minako couldn't come, couldn't get around the storm; I needed someone at the PPDC when Lilia got there to stave her off but there's just going to be wave after wave of Kaiju - all I could think, was, damn, we've done it now, we're the bad guys._

_I got word from Viktor and Yuuri first, then slowly everyone responded to my frantic yelling - well, everyone except the Crimson and the Eden, I think they're down._

"There's absolutely nothing else we can try?"  _Viktor was saying, and I couldn't lie._

All you did was buy yourselves a few minutes,  _and I mean, I wasn't_ angry  _at them, but I was sure as hell angry and frantic,_ they're just going to keep coming now!  _I was freaking out! Oh, I'll admit it! Everyone was freaking out!_

"It won't let us in? Not anywhere?"  _Yuuri said like he was begging._

You're just not Kaiju,  _I told him. I was breaking apart, man. This is the culmination of my career? Studded by so many highlights and crazy ideas that were actually wildly successful, only to culminate in world-ending failure?_

_Then Yurio snapped back:_

"Not Kaiju  _enough._ "

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Everyone who can afford a moment of pause, which is currently just the Phoenix, as a pair of Onibaba IIs turn from it to tackle Yurio, going to the Jaeger's rescue, pauses. The Tango's engaging a Scunner who's wounded but continues to fight the Cherno, who's made a good couple kills so far. This leaves the Russian Jaeger free to help the struggling Gipsy.

"What do you mean, Yurio?" Yuuri yells at him as the Tango hunkers down, chain sword out, Scunner flaring its nostrils; they're fighters to the end, both of them.

"Hey Mari, how many reactor cores to make the equivalent of that payload?" Yurio's asking.

"Uh - well two, or so, why do you - YURIO! You- I don't know -" Mari sputters.

"You told me I was half-Kaiju," he says.

But as the Tango meets the Scunner's charge, jabbing one side of its hammerhead to cause the beast to tilt its head, then falling around to the side to inflict a real wound, they see Yurio's already swooping up from one Onibaba carcass - he's just decapitated it with a double strike through the neck - and chasing the Phoenix, which the other Onibaba's gone back to. The Phoenix's right side looks beat up and it's not moving well.

"Yurio - !" Viktor's joining. He can't believe he's protesting, but he feels like it's his duty. Yurio could die and - well, to some extent, to Viktor, he's still like  _his Ranger._ The Jaeger pilots here are all still like  _his Rangers._ And he's never been the conventional General, sticking to the rule, sacrifice a few to save many. Not when it comes down to something like this - there's another day, another way (but that train of thought stops short of reality). The kid doesn't  _deserve -_ this Ranger doesn't  _deserve_ this fate, no matter what he's been like, none of this is his fault, and besides, the red shoe tells that he might be what, strangely, he feels like: family.

"You don't have to - we don't want you to - " Yuuri says, verbalizing Viktor-Yuuri's thoughts.

"There's a couple Otachi coming up-" Yurio says through exclamations of battle; for a moment, both Kai2s are locked in struggle against their own foes. "- save those for me, kill the rest."

As the Tango comes up from under the Scunner, successfully vanquishing it with DKNTN (reserves are getting low, the hub overlay warns) the Kai2 looks to its partner, who's just cast off the Onibaba from where it was clinging to the Phoenix, which is now locked up on one side.

Something wordless goes between the two metal warriors, if that's possible.

The Tango rolls her shoulders back. The remaining mechs organize themselves into some form of straggly line again; they're missing the Crimson, the Eden; the Gipsy's damaged and limping; and the PTS is trying to help right the Phoenix.

Nevertheless, the Kaiju are completely down. So they've won, a little bit, so far.

"Nine," is all Yurio says.

Barely thirty seconds to regroup and then the Breach reopens - they're getting fed up with this sight, a movie they don't want to see ever again - and out floods a fresh line of Kaiju meat, with another quake to the ground.

"Keep kicking ass, my friends," from Chris. " _We_  are."

"Watch your tone before checking our kill count," Mila taunts, but she sounds grim and tired.

They prepare to meet the oncoming threat - yet again.

Over the years, many have come to see Jaegers as some money-making facade. Existing only to boost nation's egos, to model for a line of merchandise, a grand scheme even, to some conspiracy theorists. Their pilots little more than pop stars who had to go through an expensive elite prep school. People who did not much more than show up to their jobs and go to press conferences afterward.

But here, metal becomes muscle. Here, Jaegers are the antonym of  _propaganda._ This, Viktor fully believes, has always believed, every day of his time as General, and every day since. And his Rangers  _always_ do him proud.

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Plisetsky's got the Phoenix to the surface.

"Emil's out cold," its remaining pilot tells Plisetsky. "I can still set us upright."

Cautiously, Plisetsky lets go of the Jaeger, whose jets stabilize it.

"I'll need you to eject," Plisetsky says to Altin over comms.

"Why," Altin says, even as in the background, the AI's saying,  _left ejection preparing, right ejection preparing._

"I'm going to rip out your heart."

"Thought you already started."

"Chah! Sure, I'll finish it. Actually . . . I need your whole body."

"Hm." Some noise that could be interpreted as a smirk. "So you're going down there."

"Fuck, yeah."

"Well . . . Good luck."

"All I have to do is be myself," sarcastically from Plisetsky.

"Talk to you later."

No further talk until the two escape pods jet out and buoy up by white bags ringing them. Seas are choppy and dark but Plisetsky talks to their command officer in the Institute to try and get someone to get them.

Then, there's an Otachi coming straight at him under the surface. He submerges, gripping the Phoenix's live but pilotless form and putting full power into the jets. He holds it like a shield, but then rolls aside so that the Otachi misses him, stabs up with a blade, severs the bottom half of the Otachi's jaw. By then there's some other beast coming at him, two in fact: an Otachi and a Kaiceph. Thankfully the Tango Victory comes bulleting in from one side to tackle the Kaiceph away.

Leaving a spinning trail of bright blue blood, the injured Otachi pursues the PTS as it weaves and ducks around, waiting patiently enough for an opportunity to would the other the same way. The healthy one spits a couple times and misses mostly, just disintegrating one of the Phoenix's feet. Finally there's one on the PTS' right and one on the left; to the already wounded one, Plisetsky extends the Phoenix that way like one would give a toy to a dog, and the other way, a blade. With a twisting  _chop_ both have been rendered spitless and furthermore, Plisetsky's got one claws-deep into one out of two reactors he needs.

"Someone else spare a reactor?" he says into the comms.

"We're really damaged-" comes a ready answer from the Gipsy.

"It's telling us to eject, should we?" Guang-Hong's nervous voice.

"We killed two, I think we've earned it. All yours, Yurio," Leo says in a game tone.

Soon, the PTS has jabbed a halfdrift deep into each Otachi's brain and both Kaiju snatch a Jaeger skeleton, grabbing at it like children claw onto giant handfuls of pinata candy.

"Yurio, you can't halfdrift with  _two_ Kaiju!" Mari's shrieking.

"Watch me," Plisetsky says with a hard  _sniff_ back, trail of red starting from his nose. "I got the Phoenix and Gipsy - can you get Minako to-"

"Yes, yes," Mari's said hurriedly, apparently done arguing.

The PTS, halfdrift needles into each Kaiju like some close-range reins, each Kaiju clutching a motionless but live Jaeger, is a sight to see. It turns its ride towards the Breach. Fellow Jaegers and Kai2s look to be holding up, if barely, against the new onslaught; the battle's drawn out, Kai2s less freely using DKNTN.

Then, all those Black-Tiger manufactured bodies freeze.

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"-The fuck?!" comes from Yurio, panicked.

"Can't move!" reports Yuuri frantically before the Kaiceph they're dealing with drives it furiously down into an outcrop of rocks. " _Urgh!_ "

"Neither can we," from Chris.

"Mari!" Yuuri yells for an explanation.

But there's no answer; from Mari, at least.

"The failsafe . . . I told her . . . Fuck, sorry," from Yurio.

On Viktor-Yuuri's screen, bars obscure their vision. The message reads:  _Failsafe shutdown. External command,_ and then a latitude and longitude reading, as well as a time.  _Voice passcode to unlock._

Yuuri's freaking out in ghost-drift (which is still holding together marvellously) but Viktor brings them back together, because he's got it, this is an easy one: RED SHOE.

Zap, they're back on line, and there's a stabbing pain in the upper back as the Kaiceph chews at them. Lucky no payload's there anymore. Kicking back, their legs are grabbed by one of the beast's gross limbs which is jointed to show dull stretching flesh underneath; out comes the chain sword and even as they're aiming to hack off the offending arm, Viktor's yelling to everyone: "The code's RED SHOE!"

"-did you KNOW that?!" Mari comes back in. "I was completely locked out-"

"The PTS still isn't moving! Can Yurio hear me?" Viktor says in a panic as they roll and jab and are rewarded with a  _thwack_ to the hub window, disoriented anew.

"Yurio!  _Yurio!_ I guess he can't - I can't hear him - oh  _NO,_ his diveseal's undoing!  _Get your helmet pack on, damnit!_ "

"Maybe he can- hear you," Yuuri suggests frantically. Viktor-Yuuri's head is snapped back down by the ferocious Kaiceph, but luckily the Tango's head is a little too round and little too big for it to get its entire jaws around.

"Can he? Can he - Yurio, the code is RED SHOE!"

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Plisetsky's in complete silence, save for the malevolently distant Kaijus tugging at his consciousness, and worst of all water's spurting into the hub. He disconnects himself from the machine. He rushes to grab the dive helmet and suit overlay from the wall. By now he's ankle-deep. Bars flash on the hub window. Drivesuit disconnected, he has no power over the jets to keep himself submerged - the pressure's too much, soon the PTS and everything attached to it will burst back to surface - even now they're pulling upwards. So he  _has_ to flood them.

Mari showed him - she showed everyone she could, in her enthusiasm - the halfdrifts. They connect just like a normal pons, the same clip-ends, they're just wired through the arms of the Kai2s.

Plisetsky disconnects his link to the two Otachi, pops the dive helmet on, straps the jets around his thighs and arms, and then wrenches down the lever to completely pop the diveseal. The top curve of the PTS goes blasting up. Suddenly Plisetsky's choked from all sides by the cold, thick ocean, so small - now there's the Otachi with their doll-like Jaegers not tied to his beck and call any more. Their connection to the headless Kai2 is merely physical via the halfdrift needles and they turn to the dead weight.

Sucking in a breath, which activates the OxGen with a snap, Plisetsky's hands shake over the jet controls and he dodges a spit of blue from one Otachi which melts away connection to the PTS, its whole left arm and shoulder.

But not the arteries and veins, which curl like macaroni in free ocean water now. And not the half-drift. That's not made of metal. Anything pons never is, not the soul of it.

Plisetsky makes a break for the trailing end of the clip, freed from the inner workings of the Kai2's limb, and feels for the port at the back of the helmet.

Suddenly there it is on his consciousness again, the beast. It's angry and  _huge_ and terrifyingly outsizes Plisetsky, but there's dominance in the half drift. Otachi furiously wrenches its head side-to-side as Plisetsky pulls himself in via the halfdrift cord, willing the disobedient Kaiju to spit away the entrapments of its fellow Kaiju, which appears to be the dumber of the two, uselessly trying to snap and rip at the weighty PTS skeleton, half-melted.

With a grudgingly compliant screech, still grasping the Phoenix, whose reactor still burns, the Otachi obeys.

Then Plisetsky's grabbing the other halfdrift, back in with both Kaiju, small and cold and near invisible to anyone watching in the blackness, but the Otachi bump shoulder-to-shoulder, so he can barely straddle them on their wing-like ridges. Some sort of ethereal jockey: he's got the halfdrift cords in either hand, whipping them, reining the Kaiju. Screeching along, the Otachi undulate and paddle, sweep down towards the Breach, clutching their cargo of two Jaeger bodies with cores ready to go dark.

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Viktor-Yuuri's lost all communication with the PTS.

"Better than they've dreamed," Yuuri says, still, like some goodbye, as the pair of Otachi curve down into the Breach, dragging the Gipsy's form shreddingly on the edge of the close plate. Backlighting shows the tiny figure of Plisetsky, a brief black blur the size of a comma, commanding the beasts, and then they're gone in.

"Everyone get AWAY! If this thing works which IT BETTER WORK, it sure as  _hell_ better work, you do  _NOT_ want to be near it! You do  _NOT_ want to be close! Get back to the PPDC!" Mari's yelling.

There's still two Kaiju to take care of. The remaining Jaegers band together. A shock from the Cherno's fists and the last of Chris and Suire's DKNTN later, they're down.

As one, the Jaegers and Kai2s band together, Kai2s leading the charge, fleeing from the hopeful epicenter.

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"It's not important," is what Plisetsky will tell anyone what he sees down there for a long time afterwards.

Of course, there's a rush of orange. The brightness, the roaring of the Kaiju he's leading down. He  _will_ tell you that, as soon as they get about 3/4 of the way there, he knows he's gonna get in. He knows it's going to work. Because the Otachi are listening to him. They're taking him as leader.

In that moment, he thinks of Sofya, because without her - well, he wouldn't be here. And maybe he doesn't want to be. But - he  _needs_ to be. He finds his truth here, approaching the ultimate unknown closer and closer by each passing half-second.

And there's no fear. It's the one point he can find in his life where the  _fear,_ the - the self-loathing that so often follows -that he's wrapped up in choice words and attitudes and behaviours - is gone, gone,  _gone_. There's just some strange exhilaration. He'll tell you, that there, he couldn't care less if he was going to die or not.

He gives Mari on the other side ETA. Detonation's not a problem. He'll just tell the Otachi to crush the reactor cores. That'll do it.

Suddenly they're at the bottom of the fault. Awaits a blue five-part fold, kind of like some plant. It separates and then under that there's another, and another, and another, coming in blazingly close succession to make him dizzy, but he  _can't_ close his eyes. This is the only fucking time he'll have this experience in his lifetime (fucking  _hope_ it'll be). He's gotta be  _there_ for it.

He'll say he can't really describe what it looks like. But it's the fastest speed he's ever gone. He'll tell you it felt like time fucked itself up in that passage to wherever-the-fuck he went. And when they got to the other side, that's when he'll tell you it's not important what it looked like.

But, of course, he  _knows_ what he saw.

When he emerges from the blue, punches out of a frazzling net of supersaturated ultramarine electricity, what fills his vision is a dying sun, huge,  _enormous,_ the bloody, sickly brightness of it the most horrifying thing he's laid eyes on. Ever has, ever will. Dotted in front, eclipsing planets to be assumed. And there's vauge landscape, towering, sculpted, rocky masses, freakishly upscaled, but that's all he's got time to view. He tells the Otachi to crush the already-flaming Jaeger bodies.

"Of course it was a huge explosion," he'll tell you. "It was a huge  _fucking_ explosion. Bigger than that HMX load Viktor set off."

The fact that you're talking to him, though, means somehow he got back out, which is hard to believe, considering he was pretty much point-blank to the detonation.

"I think it helped I wasn't  _from_ there. I don't fucking know. Their physics is probably different. Only Earth physics applies to me, maybe? I mean, it did push me back up."

Soon, Plisetsky blasts back through the blue, the electricity and the time-fuck petal-layers, chased by a tidal wave of pure energy released from the Gipsy and Phoenix's last breath. Orange flames seem to be stationary beside him. That's because they're rushing back up along  _with_ him. There's a darkness that abruptly drowns out the blueness of the portal at the bottom. It's very much like how you'd expect the bottom of a fault to be, if there weren't a portal to some alien dimension down there. The black chases Plisetsky's feet all the way up.

So when Plisetsky gets back to the level of the seafloor, there's just a wispy wall of flames dispersing through the water. The final lances of energy. And below him, darkness; around him, darkness; under him, darkness.

Quiet; ocean; cold.

He's very much alone.

None of these are bad things.

He takes a sobbing inhale, sharp in the closeness of his helmet.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

At the Hong Kong shatterdome, Black Tiger troops blanket the surrounding ground. Jets hover. The island, once rife with life, is mostly empty now, even though the Wall's still intact. Price of living and Kaiju blue in the air's pushed them out.

PPDC forces, noticeably smaller, and an air fleet, face them outside. But it's a standoff so far.

Rain sweeps down. The earth shakes furiously and cracks appear in the concrete and rock. The old shatterdome's supposed to hold. It's held so far. Years and years. Still both sides are ordered to hold their ground - for now.

Inside, the leaders of each faction stand in the Marshal's office, with its window looking out to the bleak ocean, seeing the waves as they gather on the horizon. Periodically, the room blacks out as the wall of water breaks on and over the shatterdome.

"This is foolish. As is everything you've taken on," the Marshal says. They both stand.

His elegant visitor stands at the opposite end of the room.

"I see a task to be done. It is in my interests. Why is it such a crime to love that which is useful to me?" Lilia primly inspects her nails.

"Personally backing the Russian opposition and throwing the country into civil war,  _knowing_ it will create a chain of international events devolving into likely war - " the Marshal thunders. "Even for you! I am saying this - even for you! I don't understand. The Breach closed or not. Jaegers or not."

They're speaking in Russian.

"You act so incredulous. But it's  _you_ who invaded Russian soil. Who came to the Institute and fired on me. Forced my hand. Forced  _Russia's_ hand."

"It wasn't  _all_ me, Lilia-"

"Isn't that what he says  _every time?_ " Lilia snarls. "You pathetic worm. Spineless enough to lie, for years,  _for years,_ to your closest friend. And yet that wasn't the worst you could do. You finally have a change of heart. But not the nerve to tell him before he dies. Most likely - from what  _you_ did to him."

" _Did you come in here to twist the past into your preferred story, or to negotiate?"_ the Marshal's yelling.

"My dear Yakov, were we  _ever_ negotiating? You need to stop pretending. You need to pick a side. Fight like a man. Your dead copilot's grandson is, thanks to me."

"He'll find the snake you are soon enough," the Marshal growls. "I'm sure Viktor and Yuuri have already. I know Viktor. He's far from a fool. He'll not fall prey to you."

Lilia makes no reply to that.

She sighs shortly. "Well, do we go out and fight to the death now? You know, I suggest you surrender. Your Jaegers aren't here to defend you. Not that they'd actually listen to you."

All of a sudden, there's a quake to match no other. Both party leaders stumble. Debris shakes loose. Cracks run up the wall. It doesn't stop, not for a good minute.

When it does, the two chairs at the back of the room have both fallen over. A pillbox, metal, stamped with the Marshal's initials, has clattered onto the floor. Lilia swipes it up.

"Hm. Well, you're going to die anyways," she sighs, tossing it back down after reading the prescription.

"So will you. Rest assured, it will be a worse death than mine. You've done nothing for humanity."

"I raised Nikolai's  _daughter._ I took care of her  _son._ "

"We both did. And you used them. You're using him now."

"Oh, talk, talk, talk. Your guilt is just as bad. Keeping him in a box. Please Yakov," Lilia says shortly. She strides close to him, looks him straight in the eyes. "Join me. It's simple. We've got that Reamus man with a gun to his head. You're free to choose."

"You were the one who tempted me. It was  _me_ who broke it off because I couldn't take everything you incited any longer-"

" _YOU EXILED ME, YAKOV!_ " Lilia shrieks all of a sudden. The Marshal flinches. "You cut me off. Pushed me away. To pay for  _your_ sins." Back to normal volume.

"You never loved Nikolai," the Marshal says. "And that will never be forgiven."

Lilia does all but hit him.

"We are done here," she says curtly.

At the same time, they both raise weapons at each other. Lilia's face only slides into a tilted grin. She walks out, pistol still trained.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

This won't be a fight. It will be a massacre. There's no command coming from inside the shatterdome; it's been quickly overrun and taken by Black Tiger. Now all that remains are ground troops, stationed at the ready, but quavering.

The Black Tiger forces advance after a long standoff. Thirsty for revenge.

But, before shots start to fire - Jaegers. Returning. Even as waves begin to pulsate and judder the Wall line.

The underwater bays must be unuseable.

Someone on the PPDC side bravely peels away in their jet to open the east Wall port. To see this, Black Tiger open fires madly. Mayhem spreads. Planes crash, blood spills, but now it's not cocky, it's frenzied, before the Jaegers can get -

\- but wait, there's only one Jaeger: The Cherno Alpha. And then two Kai2s. They march together. No one's watched TV since they headed out for Hong Kong.

Even as Black Tiger continues to furiously mow down the PPDC forces, the Wall port opens and the metal warriors are in.

The skirmishing shudders to an awkward pause as the battered mechs approach. Cherno looks down, stately, curved helm bearing deep gouges. The Tango Victory is like the transition from Jaeger to Kai2. It's quite a bit the worse for wear, a wound in its left side sparking. Then, finally, the dark, dusty-rose Kai2, beat and dented but veins still pumping with bright white energy.

All three stream ocean water.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Viktor quickly explains. He's so tired. He and Yuuri are holding onto the ghost-drift with the last of their strength. They feel like once they come out of it, they'll not be able to grab it again, they'll only come up with the ghost.

No word from Mari. Seems like comms have conked out as they moved position. The explosion seems to signal that Yurio managed to detonate the two reactors. Remains to be seen whether that worked or not.

They're held together by tension, by uncertainty. And now there's this conflict.

They have to pick a side.

"You know who I'm fighting for," Mila says quietly to the other two.

"Well . . . that decides it," Viktor agrees. The Tango and Cherno both turn to the last in line, a conversation inaudible to those looking on at the monoliths.

"I'm not in the mood to fight off you two," Chris says jokingly. "I'll find some other career. Avoid the middle-age crisis before it happens."

"OK," Yuuri says. And they start kicking their way into the middle of the Black Tiger fleet. "After how Lilia paralyzed us all in there with the failsafe, I don't feel bad about this at all."

"Oh, me either," Chris agrees. "In fact . . . I'd like to talk to her."

"Get in line," Viktor says.

The aircraft immediately have a new threat. But with three Jaegers, and the PPDC helping to boot, it's only a matter of time before most of Black Tiger's forces are smoking in ruins. Quickly, many of the ground troops toss down their weapons and huddle against a wall of the shatterdome, putting up their hands.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Plisetsky swims up through the dock he ran the Phoenix out of that one mission, with Altin. Now the bay door is battered open- the sea has pushed its way through. He can actually breast crawl through the lower bunker floors of the shatterdome; water level's rising; the old building can hold no more.

A surging wave portending of what's to come tosses him up on top of the flight of stairs leading to the next level. He scrambles to his feet, numbed to the bone with the cold of the ocean, but he whips off his helmet and strides, dripping, into the hall that will take him to LOCCENT.

On the way, Black Tiger troops line the halls with weapons. Everyone looks. No one shoots. You wouldn't dare. There's something about this Ranger that radiates purpose, like you couldn't stop him if you and everyone else tried.

Just at the foot of the stairs from LOCCENT, where the passage blooms out into the (void of Jaegers) shatterdome, Lilia's marching out with Yakov at gunpoint behind her. Other PPDC hostages in grey uniforms sit, bound, guarded, closeby on the shiny black shatterdome floor.

The Black Tiger leader stops short.

Plisetsky stops in front of her.

"Breach is closed, bitch," he snarls.

Emotion flashes across her face.

"This is all for your own good, Yura," Lilia says quickly and harshly in Russian.

"Tell me." Plisetsky crosses his arms. "Why you've locked my mother in a dungeon. Put her in some fucking fake sleep. And told me she was elsewhere,  _well-_ taken-care-of."

"I didn't need her when you came-" Lilia says, reaching for Plisetsky. It's supposed to be appealing, but the Ranger recoils from her touch in disgust.

They both whirl around as Liang comes jogging up to serve a report: there are Jaegers outside quickly destroying all Black Tiger's troops. Lilia's expression flickers uncertainly, then grows colder.

"Don't worry. Use the loudspeakers. Tell them we have their PPDC general Reamus and the Marshal Yakov here. We will shoot them if anyone dares assault this building."

The floor shakes. Lights flicker.

"You didn't  _need_ her. Like she's some - some fucking  _object._ You're as bad as my fucking  _father._ "

"Yuri Plisetsky," Lilia hisses, "Watch your  _tongue._ I rescued you from that man."

Plisetsky looks like he's struggling. "Sure. You did some shit for me. But why? You don't love me," he says, dry and sure of himself.

"You are very dear to me, Yura, on the contrary." But something about it sounds like a business deal.

"Only because he's useful," mutters Yakov from behind her. Like lightning, Lilia whips around with the butt of her (gold-barreled) pistol and knocks the Marshal out cold with a well-placed  _thwack._ He slumps and the guards around him tighten.

Plisetsky's flinched. "He doesn't deserve  _that._ "

"You'd trust the man who never trusted you?" Lilia questions, arms crossed, gun dangling from a finger. The ground shakes again. Dust smokes from the ceiling.

Plisetsky frowns. "He wanted me safe. I hated him for that. But at least he fucking  _cared._ I was down at the bottom of the ocean when  _you disabled_ my Kai2! I was going to  _drown! How can you fucking say you care about me?_ "

Lilia shakes her head. "That wasn't me, that was a miscommunication-"

" _Cut your bullshit! Mari's taken the Institute! You talked to no one there!_ That came straight from your private failsafe. It came  _straight_ from you. I know because I told you Yuuri had wrecked it in time for you to fix it and that was a  _fucking mistake!_ All because you didn't want your fucking Breach closed. All because you don't  _care_ about - about -"

Lilia sweeps to him. "Yura. Yura. Calm down. You're thinking with your heart. That leads to disaster, hm? Now I have made my mistakes. I admit them. But I do as much as I can for those I love. Surely you know that. And now? What does closing the Breach do? It might save some lives in the short run. But without it, we cannot push advances. Without a threat, we are never chased forward. With it, we have the resources to make a life for our _selves._ "

"Our _selves?_ " Plisetsky strains. There's hot, angry water at the edges of his eyes. He's still in the drivesuit armor.

"Us. Family," Lilia says. She's close, a slight nod of her head, eyes wide and open.

There's commotion behind - everyone whirls - in run  _Viktor Nikiforov_ and  _Yuuri Katsuki,_ flanked by Christophe Giacometti, Mathieu Suire, Mila Babicheva and Sara Crispino. They're all in drivesuits.

Lilia gives no order to shoot. The presence of Chris and Viktor makes that a wise decision. It's a melting pot of  _both sides_ enough to make anyone unsure.

Before anyone can do anything, Yuuri Katsuki's grinning and running, sprinting for Plisetsky. He stops short of leaping on him in a hug, as if remembering something. Like his last hope has been fulfilled, he half-exclaims, half-sighs,

"You're alive!"

And then Viktor is hot on his heels. He grabs Plisetsky around the shoulders, slaps him on the back, shakes his hand vigorously, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"It worked, didn't it? It worked?" the former General's asking excitedly. "Just - however it turned out, what you did - riding two Otachi into the Breach -" Viktor shakes his head. "I feel old now." He's still grinning.

"You are." Plisetsky jerks away from all the attention, but looks like he doesn't mind it all that much. Viktor and Yuuri are still on him:  _did it work did it work did it work?_ He waves them off:

"Fuck it did."

Viktor and Yuuri and Mila and Sara all shout and scream for pure  _relief,_ for the pure finality of it all.

Meanwhile, Lilia's looking very upset. She still has soldiers standing all around. She can still order them to shoot. Everyone's focus goes back to her. Her and Plisetsky.

The new arrivals stand off.

Lilia's familial claim still stands. There's a slow confidence that crosses Plisetsky's face and sticks in his stance. Green eyes stare into green eyes.

"You're  _not my family_ ," Plisetsky says, derisively. He looks to Viktor and Yuuri. Looks back to Lilia. "Should be  _fucking clear,_ now _._ "

Before Lilia can even lift her weapon, Mila is right at her temple, holding a gun Chris passed to her.

"I'm born-and-bred PPDC stock. I'll shoot you. I promise," Mila says.

Before she can order all her troops down, another massive wave and quake slaps up against the shatterdome. There's a thundering  _CRACK._ Water gushes into the main shatterdome area. Bay windows shatter and ocean pours in that way.

The diversion gives Lilia the chance to duck and go to hit Mila's weapon out of her hands, but Mila will have no such thing and handily delivers Lilia an equal-measure blow to the head. Then  _she's_ out like a light.

Now the rest of Black Tiger is a snake without a head.

Viktor glances around; yells over the roaring of the floodwaters.

"We're going to the stockade! If any Black Tiger wish to join, leave your weapons and follow at my command!"

The stockade is in the north corner of the Shatterdome. They've never had to use it, but it's supposed to be the most fortified structure on the whole island.

Suprisingly, all Black Tiger members flee outside instead of following. Maybe they don't relish being trapped in a room with Black Tiger defects and PPDC hardliners.

Viktor and Yuuri lead the way. Mila and Sara pick up Yakov.

They get to the stockade.

The storm thunders outside. The ground shakes. But they're safe, doors bolted, sealed inside thick defenses.

Everyone's strangely quiet. Viktor and Yuuri slump together. The ghost-drift is gone. Who knows if they'll ever experience that again. Who knows if they'll ever experience anything like today again. Yuuri falls asleep quickly, head on Viktor's shoulder.

They leave Yurio alone. He sits by himself, head in his hands.

Chris and Suire also are asleep almost right away. Yakov's still unconscious. Mila leans in a corner, eyes closed, Sara's head in her lap.

The pounding waves and quakes of the disaster thunder, a deafening mumble, all around them. But the stockade is sound.

The Breach is closed.

The last bit of Astravok floats through Viktor's mind.

_A light breeze barely stirs the air / No storm can venture there_

_And in tranquility the little isle / Dreams gently on, falling into sleep._

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

 _Forget all that drama about highlights of my career and failing and stuff. Everything's A-OK. Well, pretty damn OK considering. The Breach closing is setting off a chain of disasters like never before, but hopefully it's the last we'll have to face. Russia's still in deep shit, but things are moving again and it seems like relief aid is back on the line now that the Breach is closed. People who_ can  _celebrate_ are  _celebrating._

_The media wants a name to credit, of course. We'll have to decide that. Oh, yeah, we? Everyone's back at the Institute. Kinda temporary._

_Altin and Nekola were flown back here. Georgi Popovich was also rescued. His copilot didn't make it. And the Triple are also lost to the depths._

_So people died._

_I mean . . . it was going to happen._

_There's bandages and stitches and burns going around, too._

_And we lost Jaegers. Small price to pay. Might not need them anymore, I guess._

_We're keeping Lilia prisoner for now until she can go somewhere proper. Minako's also over here. I gave her a room to put all her scribbly math shit in for now. I'm so nice._

_Hmmm, what else? Yakov's taken time off, I suppose. PPDC has arrangements for him. If I were him, I'd be done too._

_So much has happened I don't know what to look at first. Just finished a solid 24-hour run of freezing up Kaiju specimens with the A-team. But there's Viktor and Yuuri's ridiculous ghost drift, which I frankly find hard to believe, and that's saying something. I'd love to look into that. And then there's Plisetsky. Double-half-drifting, so drifting, with a Kaiju, and diving them into the Breach, travelling to another dimension which he's being SO DAMN VAGUE ABOUT - I should've jumped in there myself - and coming back out perfectly fine. Perfectly. Fine._

_That kid._

_What else? Oh yeah, there's the wedding! Finally! I was suggesting dates next year, but they were way too impatient. So I guess they're gonna tie the knot pretty soon, here, before everyone goes. Doesn't give me the opportunity to rig up a nice event, but just as well, because they're flying the parents up from Japan, which means I'll have to talk to them._

_Sigh._

_Anyways, the bay, half destroyed, it's kind of aesthetic, in a near apocalyptic kind of way. I think it'll look fine. We'll dig them up some suits. They'll say some words. Honestly, their drift waveforms could be their vows. Hey, wait - that's kind of a cool . . . yaaaawn . . . a cool . . . idea._

_I think I'll get myself a new voice recorder. This one's the end of an era. It tells the whole story, you know? I also thought I could give it to Yuuri, as their wedding present. So they could know all the crazy shit that went on in my head during this whole thing. Maybe someday there will be a . . . . yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn . . . exhibit of the Jaeger program . . . piece of history, not needed anymore . . . and they'll donate this lil thing to put in it._

_Well, before any of this. I need to sleep. Damn, I need a nice, long sleep._

_So Mari out._

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

The wind is dusty with snow. Yet again, the bay on Institute land has been expanded and isn't completely sealed off from the elements. Inside is bright with floodlamps.

Jaegers and Kai2s stand in a row. Everyone's agreed to call them Jaegers to avoid confusion.

Cherno Alpha, Gipsy Danger, Tango Victory, the PTS, Phoenix Fist, Rose Return (Chris and Suire's).

The Institute is now occupied by the surviving amalgamation of both sides. Many former Black Tiger scientists have gone home to their families, or what's left. Still, many remain to study Kaiju.

Viktor Nikiforov has had no chance for rest. First, United Russia came knocking. Then, the opposition in Russia. Then other Black Tiger groups from around the world that thought  _they_ had a stake in the success. Then, the UN and the PPDC. But, your word is a lot more powerful when there's the only fleet in the whole world of 26-story human-piloted mechs standing behind it. Nikiforov coolly folds his arms and says  _no._

So no one's laid a finger on them. No one's been able to claim those that closed the Breach as their own.

News agencies swarm soon enough, desperate for a release. Until now they've been turned away, even though they want names, details, a heroic story, something to brighten the globe at long last. Now, they'll get it.

Around 30 or so men and women with cameras and video equipment stand inside of the bay, flashes going off already, taking pictures of the Jaegers lined up so impressively. The media has been assigned seating on either side of two aisles. In the middle of the two aisles is more seating which is cut by a center aisle filled by people they would love to interview but have been asked not to. Indeed this is a rather strange way to set up a news release, with all this seating and whatnot. But there  _is_ a low black platform on the cleared concrete ahead. Perhaps Nikiforov himself will come and make a public announcement.

The newspeople have not been boisterous; they know that there were thousands clamoring to get in here and only they were allowed. So they've been following the rules.

" _Waiting expectantly to learn just how the Breach has been closed at long last,"_ one woman is saying to her lens, but she trails off and turns around because the people in the middle aisle are modelling quietude.

Camera focus stalls for a second in confusion because - what is this? It's not some press party. It's a Japanese man and woman, middle-aged, in traditional dress, walking down and taking their seat in the middle aisle. Then it's - Viktor Nikiforov! Sharp in a black suit, no Kaiju blue stains remaining on his cheeks. But everything is very strange and so processional and none of the newsmen (wisely) stick a mic at him. Then Christophe Giacometti and Mari Katsuki and Yuri Plisetsky and Mila Babicheva and Sara Crispino and all the pilots of the Jaegers standing as statues behind them. They line up outwards from the little black platform. Chris is standing on it. Nikiforov's off to one side. Cameras are filming, broadcasting. Plisetsky's on Nikiforov's side, Mari is on the other, pilots appropriate to their Jaeger's placement.

Where's Yuuri Katsuki?

When Giacometti holds a mic up and asks everyone to stand, through the loudspeakers of the bay, it's obvious. When Katsuki walks in, black suit, hair slicked back, down the middle aisle and everyone takes a breath - the smart ones allot time to look from Katsuki back to Nikiforov and note the absolute stars in his eyes - it's obvious. This is no press release. This is a  _wedding._

Katsuki reaches the stage and takes his place opposite Nikiforov. Reporters keep their lips pressed together either in astonishment or healthy respect. Cameras all point.

The copilots don't take their eyes off each other.

"As most of you have figured out, this is a wedding," Giacometti says into his mic. "We're gathered here today and so on. Actually, that's the point. Without these two, we might not be. Without everyone here, we might not be. So we're alive, and why not celebrate it?"

The copilots say their vows.

Then they exchange rings, silver and engraved on the inside.

And camera flashes rival the brightness of the floodlights as they lean together, lips together: no one can see a ghost but you can be sure it's there all the same. A roaring wave of jubilant cheers goes up -- not just for this union, but for everything. The rejoicing is free and honest: it  _can_ be, at last.

After this is all done, the press gets what they wanted, which is really details on the mission and this new alliance - although, now having got a wedding between former Jaeger program General Viktor Nikiforov and returned Ranger Yuuri Katsuki who both worked for the PPDC  _and_ Black Tiger  _and_  had an integral part in closing the Breach under both organizations' noses, they're not  _sure_ exactly what they wanted.

Soon, the whole story is out, an accurate tale to accompany vague footage. Soon everyone will know who, and what, saved them.

The media wants a name, like  _Jaeger program_ or  _Black Tiger._ They want an identity to paste to their collective heroes. They want to know how this alliance will go into the future.

"The Breach is closed. Why would you need all this anymore?" is all Nikiforov will say, waving to the bay around him, vehicles and spare parts and Jaegers standing silent as statues - mission accomplished - and then he'll turn to Katsuki at his side, who's already turning to him, and kiss him. Nikiforov's eyes will stick from the pull-away, like he's loathe to lose sight - little though it be - of his love, as he turns back to the gazes and cameras. The heart-shaped smile isn't fake, not this time. "Why would I need anything else?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GROSS SOBBING.... THIS IS IT BOYZ.... AND GIRLZ...end of the line  
> there's still a like 550 word epilogue next chapter  
> and then if you're interested in reading my plot notes and planning shit I can post that too  
> Im also going to draw something and do a promo post for it all on tumblr. also talk to me on tumblr pls [ clicky clicky for me ](https://sciencemakedrugtho.tumblr.com)  
> also here's the fic playlist [ click here ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu5qTnOFn9E&list=PLFtCDaG4LZek89TVxPFgDZXqynWmrGuiU) . There's Островок, there's Fight Music (TM), Emotional Music (TM), otayuri screwing around music (forget I said that but there is), and just general stuff that kept me writing  
> thanks all u guys for your support and encouragement. I know this fic hasn't gotten very well-recognized (I believe because it's a slow burn, not everyone knows what Pacific Rim is, and Victuuri isn't fucking by chapter 3) but honestly u guys who DO enjoy it make it all worth it


	53. Epilogue

One question remains: How did tiny, alone, Yuri Plisetsky make it  _all_ the way back to the shatterdome from the fault in the Pacific Plate?

It's mid-afternoon, a bleak day.

Cold sea spray tosses into the bottom of deep crevasse that yawns down, gaping through a cliff of grey stone. The tundra above is mostly bare.

Yuri Plisetsky sits near the shore, at the very bottom, 400-foot-tall walls of striated rock rising above him. There's an empty bucket at his side.

The waves that lap at the rock feed a river that cruises down this gap in the earth.

The bucket's contents have been dumped onto the ground and a giant and very nasty creature is gobbling up pounds of fish with an appetite. It's a terribly sloppy eater, with the bottom half of its jaw looking like it's been cut off at some recent point in time, but it makes do, lanky front limbs scraping at the rocks, making disgusting swallowing and gulping sounds as it hurks the food down.

Plisetsky looks on rather disinterestedly.

On his other side is Otabek Altin, noticeably less relaxed.

"Are you sure he has enough fish," Altin says stiffly.

Plisetsky shrugs. "I couldn't find a book on  _caring for your new fucking Otachi._ "

"Mari would write you one."

Plisetsky snorts.

"If you can clone it, it could make a popular pet," Altin adds.

They sit in silence, just the rushing of the waves and the Otachi's smacking.

"I feel like you came just to say you were right," Plisetsky says.

"Well, was I?"

"Sort of. Fuck that, no you weren't." Plisetsky thumps his chest. "This is me. This is me all along. Just cause I closed the fucking Breach solo doesn't mean I've ever been anything different. Just cause I fell for - Lilia - and everything she gave me - doesn't mean I won't again." Plisetsky hangs his head for a second, blonde hair blowing in the wind and spray.

"You know, my mother died from not following the rules. She went back into a danger zone to try and save my father. He was already on his way to safety. She wasn't supposed to go back. She pushed past the PPDC. And she died from blue poisoning a week later. My father and I watched it happen," Altin says all at once.

"Sorry," Plisetsky says.

"I see rules in a generally favorable light," Altin concludes.

"That's fine," Plisetsky says.

"Meanwhile, you have a pet Kaiju."

Plisetsky laughs.

"Maybe you were a bit right. I don't know. Did I grow up? Did I learn something on my way to another fucking dimension?"

"I think you did, because you came back," Altin says.

"I learned who's really . . . who's really there for me," Plisetsky admits. "Did you know? Viktor fucking Nikiforov - I'm his fucking half-nephew or something."

"Yes, he's told everyone."

The Otachi has finished its food. It's snuffling the rocks.

"We're too different," Plisetsky says.

"Night and day."

"Too fucking different. And I'm not changing."

"Neither am I," Altin agrees.

"Perfect," Plisetsky says, low, and grips Altin's face between his hands, presses their bodies together in a mix of wind and ocean spray. Altin's hands wrap around him in return, and when they kiss, it's fire and ice, some kind of paradox you don't have words for.

At least, not alone, you wouldn't.

But together? That's a different story. That's  _this_ story.

 

* * *

 

**Here's a little appendix of things.**

 

**1. A bit on Astravok:**

[clicky](https://books.google.ca/books?id=t3rDAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=lyrics+astravok&source=bl&ots=1HbZMpBdEe&sig=Lu66-T-q2aqBED0FYEjff74rTGo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj54dHg9bTVAhVosFQKHUKIB4MQ6AEIKDAA)

You might notice the origin of Yurio's mom's name.

I actually started learning Astravok for my grade whatever voice exam because it was so damn pretty. Never finished it but I actually learned different lyrics which originally I went on while writing this story:

_The lonely island set in sea_

_To keep her maiden shores inviolate_

_Did wrap them round with laurel tree_

_With roses and sweet violet_

_And thus in shade of sweet repose_

_The waters lulled this quiet haven_

_The dreaming woodland trees arose_

_Like images engraven_

_And every breath of air is mild_

_From sovereign rule of tempest severed_

_This island sleeps like any child_

_So tranquil, peace delivered_

 

**2\. Final remarks**

there won't be a sequel because I feel like *prayer hands emoji* it's good and I don't want to touch it . . . but if you, for some strange, strange reason, enjoy my writing and have some idea for something else, send it my way.

I have another project ongoing, JJBek university AU thing. Similarities: third person limited present tense, my general writing style, themes tie heavily into music. Differences: JJ doesn't die LMAO MY SON (he's my fav YOI character and I HAD to kill him here otherwise my JJ-centered heart would have allowed him to take over the story), and it deserves its M rating a lot more than this.

Now to wait for Uprising and hope it's a good movie... Please be good please be good please let Rinko Kikuchi and Jing Tian kick ass... preferably together ... I can dream can't I?

thanks for reading my shitty brain spew fantasyland story . . . and complimenting me on it . . . u have no clue how much I love u all, I literally say "I LOVE YOU!" whenever I read a nice comment. and please do leave me a final comment with your overall adjudication of this story. it's all over and I'm going to cry now bye


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